Jackson, Miss. – The Thunder baseball team recorded its first win of the young season on Saturday afternoon with an 11-6 victory over the Southwestern University Pirates. Wheaton rallied from an early 2-0 deficit with a five-run third inning and iced the victory with a four-run ninth inning to improve to 1-2 on the season. The Pirates fell to 3-3 with the loss.
 
Josh Arevalo earned the victory with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in relief of starter Daniel Bayer. Bayer went 3.1 innings, surrendering five runs, four earned, on six hits with one walk and one strikeout. Ty Hoeksema allowed one earned run in one-plus innings of work and Peter Moran earned the save with three shutout innings to end the games including two strikeouts.
 
Wheaton tallied 11 runs on 11 hits with three errors on the day while the Pirates scored six runs on 13 hits with four errors.
 
The Pirates took the early lead on Saturday with a run in the top of the second and the top of the third inning before the Thunder rallied in the bottom of the third. Josh Kimmel's double plated John McKenna to put Wheaton on the board. Two batters later, Peter Newman started a two-out rally with a single to right to score Kimmel and tie the game at two. A walk by Johnny Peltz and a hit by pitch to Andrew Laucella loaded the bases and another walk to Tyler Sigler gave Wheaton a 3-2 lead. Kyle Trivits followed with a two-run single to right center to give Wheaton a 5-2 lead.
 
Southwestern answered by chasing Bayer with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Kyle Mellinger manufactured a run in the top of the fourth by earning a two-out walk, reaching second base on a passed ball and taking third on an errant pickoff attempt before scoring on a single up the middle by Newman.
 
Leading 6-5, Wheaton added a run in the home half of the sixth inning when Peltz doubled to right-center to score Newman and give Wheaton a 7-5 lead. Consecutive singles to start the top of the seventh inning chased Hoeksema from the mound but Peter Moran was able to limit the Pirates to just one run in the inning, making the score 7-6.
 
The Thunder broke the game open in the bottom of the eight when Wheaton posted four runs on a three hits that included a run-scoring walk by Newman, a two-run single by Peltz and an RBI single by Laucella. Moran's third scoreless inning qualified him for the save and closed the 11-6 Thunder victory.
 
Newman highlighted the action with a 3-for-3 day at the plate that included three runs scored and three RBI. Peltz was 2-4 with 3 RBI and a run scored. Trivits drove in two while also throwing out four Pirate baserunners on the day.