Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CAROL STREAM, Ill. - The University of Dubuque baseball team collected two wins on Saturday at the 2024 Wheaton College Thunder Invitational. The Spartans captured the opener against Saint Mary's University (Minn.) by a final of 13-3 in eight innings. UD repeated that score in the second game against the host Wheaton College and ended the game early in seven innings.

In game one, Saint Mary's scored a run at the top of the first inning and the Spartans rallied to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first. The two squads remained tied 2-2 after three innings until UD broke the game open and scored three in the fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 8-2. Each team added a run in the sixth 9-3, and UD put another three runs on the board in the seventh and ended the game in the bottom of the eighth after they extended the lead to 13-3. The Spartans scored 13 runs on 14 hits and committed no errors in the victory.

Aidan Elfering earned the win in opener after tossing the first seven innings. He allowed six hits, struck out seven of 28 batters faced, Anthony Scanlon came in for relief in the eighth inning and faced four batters and allowed no hits and walked one. JD Schaffer led the offense after going 3-3 at the plate and finishing the game with five RBI's. Five Spartans would end the contest with two hits each. Colin Husko (2-4 with 4 RBI's), Aidan Elfering (2-5), Justin Hausner (2-3 with 1 RBI), Daniel Maller (2-3), and Patrick Rafferty (2-3 with an RBI). Schaffer hit a ball deep in the fifth inning to right field and scored three RBI's. He would send the ball over the fence again, he homered to left field in the seventh inning with a runner on base. Colin Husko would homer in the sixth for a solo shot. Six Spartans added doubles in their time at the plate: Colin Husko, Aidan Elfering, Justin Hauser (2), George Sherlock, Daniel Maller, and Patrick Rafferty.

In game two, the two teams were held scoreless in the opening inning of action. UD scored six runs in the top of the second, four runs in the fourth, a run in the sixth and their final two runs in the seventh. Wheaton College scored a run in the fourth and two runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Spartans ended the afternoon early after scoring 13 runs off 11 hits and played errorless in the 13-3 win.

Charlie Jaeger collected the win on the mound after he threw the first 5.1 innings, allowed five hits,and struck out six of the 24 Thunder batters faced. Aiden Sullivan tossed the final 1.2 innings and allowed one walk and faced six batters. Aidan Elfering had the hot bat in game two. He went 4-4 at the plate with five RBI's and had the teams only extra base hits with a double and a homerun. Jake Cekander went 2-3 aand had an RBI.

The Spartans (11-3 overall) will travel to face the Augustana College (Ill.) Vikings (9-3 overall) on Monday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill.