Carol Stream, Ill. - The Wheaton baseball team swept a CCIW doubleheader against Millikin University on Friday at Lee Pfund Stadium. Wheaton topped the Big Blue 7-1 in the opener and the Thunder also won the nightcap 9-2.

Wheaton improves to17-12 on the year and 7-7 in the CCIW. Millikin dropps to 5-22 overall and 1-13 in conference play. The two teams will conclude their three-game series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Lee Pfund Stadium.

Wheaton earned the 7-1 win in the opener as the hosts scored seven runs, on nine hits, with two errors and Millikin tallied one run, on 10 hits, with one error. Evan Rahn (5-3) started and earned the win on the mound for the Thunder in game one. He struck out five and walked one while allowing eight hits with one unearned run in seven innings. Peter Moran pitched two shutout innings in relief, allowing two hits, with one walk while striking out two.

Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Matt Krause tripled with one out and scored on a groundout by Justin Swider. Kyle Mellinger scored the Thunder's second run in the bottom of the second inning on a wild pitch by Millikin starting pitcher Sean Beal.

After the Big Blue scored a single run in the top of the fifth inning to make it 2-1, Wheaton scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away. John Jensen-Johnson's one-out single scored Swider to make it 3-1, then senior Jake Portugal doubled home Jensen-Johnson and Mellinger to give the Thunder a four-run lead. Josh Kimmel's two-out double brought home Portugal and Taylor Howe for the last two runs of the game.

Beal (1-5) allowed seven runs and nine hits while striking out five and walking one to take the loss for Millikin. Krause helped Wheaton's effort with a 2-for-4 outing at the plate and scoring a run

Wheaton secured the sweep with the 9-2 victory in the finale today as the Thunder scored nine runs, on seven hits, with no errors and Millikin recorded two runs, on six hits, with three errors. Thunder starting pitcher Michael Kaufman (1-1) started the second game for Wheaton, allowing two runs with four hits to earn the win. Kaufman struck out four and walked three in seven innings of work. He was relieved by Moran, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Andrew Bayer, who retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning to finish the doubleheader sweep.

Swider had a big game at the plate for the Thunder, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. He gave Wheaton a 2-0 lead in the first inning when his double knocked in Kimmel, who had reached on an error, and Krause, who had singled.

The Big Blue tied the game in the top of the second on two-out RBI hits by Zach Schilling and Kyle Davidson, but the Thunder took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Swider scored on a wild pitch with two outs. 

Wheaton broke the game open in the seventh inning, scoring four runs on two hits with two walks, in addition to a Millikin error and a hit batter.

Swider made it 8-2 in the bottom of the eighth, leading off with a single before stealing second and scoring on a fielding error. Two batters later, a sacrifice fly by Mellinger scored Trey Martin to round out the scoring for the day. Big Blue starting pitcher Phillip Ganley (1-4) allowed seven runs (five earned) and six hits in six innings of work to take the loss.