ELMHURST, Ill. — A strong offensive push in the middle innings propelled Wheaton College (Ill.) to a 6–4 road win over Elmhurst University on Wednesday evening at Butterfield Park.
With the victory, the Thunder improve to 15–21 on the season, while the Bluejays fall to 9–28.
After falling behind early, Wheaton rallied with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to overtake Elmhurst and secure the series-opening win. The Thunder capitalized on key Elmhurst miscues and received a solid outing from starting pitcher Dylan Levengood, who picked up his first win of the season with four innings of two-run ball, striking out eight.
Elmhurst struck first in the bottom of the first inning when senior Rock Smith connected on a solo home run to left field, his first of the season, giving the Bluejays a 1–0 lead. Sophomore Calvin Keith added a double and a run scored, while senior Blake Gould and junior Adan Nieves each recorded RBI singles during Elmhurst's two-run sixth inning that trimmed the deficit to 6–4. On the mound, Landon Banaszynski was tagged with the loss despite allowing no earned runs across 3.2 innings, as defensive miscues contributed to Wheaton's scoring. Senior reliever Brendan Fleming was a bright spot out of the bullpen, working 3.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no walks.
Smith gave Elmhurst an early 1–0 lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the first, but Wheaton answered in the third when J.T. Scott delivered a game-tying RBI single, scoring Joe Gill, who had reached on an error. Elmhurst briefly regained the lead in the fourth as Marty Fraga drove in Keith with a sacrifice liner to left field, making it 2–1 Bluejays.
The Thunder responded in the fifth, taking advantage of a pair of hits and a defensive miscue. Ryan Feltel's RBI double tied the game at 2–2, followed by an RBI single from Brett Engel and a groundout RBI from Peter McClowry that plated Feltel to give Wheaton a 4–2 advantage. In the sixth, Wheaton added two more runs — the first coming on a stolen base play that allowed Noah Yi to score and another unearned run on Feltel's second RBI knock of the day.
Elmhurst clawed back in the bottom half of the sixth. Carson Gnade scored on Gould's single to left, and Nieves legged out an infield hit that brought home Gould to cut Wheaton's lead to 6–4. Despite putting runners on base in the later innings, the Bluejays were held scoreless over the final three frames by a strong Thunder bullpen effort. Wheaton used four relievers to close out the win, with Sam Smith earning the save after a clean ninth inning.
Elmhurst returns to action this weekend as they continue conference play. First pitch is scheduled for Friday afternoon at Butterfield Park.
