Pitching Staff Shoves to Lead Baseball to 14th Straight Victory

CAROL STREAM, Ill. -- The University of Chicago baseball team continued to roll as the Maroons picked up their 14th consecutive victory, taking down Wheaton (IL) 8-1.

The UChicago pitching staff absolutely shoved on Friday night as five pitchers combined to allow just four hits and one run, while striking out 13 batters in the win.

John Butka allowed one run in the first 3.0 innings,

Corey Savedoff and

Lucien Reed both struck out four batters in 2.0 innings of work, and

Wilson Wendt and

Wade Hartrick added three strikeouts in the final two innings of work.

Wheaton struck first with a solo home run to lead off the second inning, and the Thunder held that lead through the first four innings. In the fifth inning, the UChicago offense came alive with a huge inning to take its first lead of the game. Following a

Luke Weston walk to lead off the fifth, the Maroons took advantage of four hit batters to bring home the first two runs of the inning. Then, with the bases loaded and two outs,

Toby Halloran came in as a pinch hitter and ripped his first collegiate hit, with a two-run single into left center to take a 4-1 lead. Weston capped off the inning he started with a two-run single of his own as the Maroons stretched the lead to five.

In the seventh inning, UChicago added more insurance runs.

Ryan Bhokwani and

Max Wiesner singled to open the frame, and following a hit by pitch by

Jack Sharp, Weston picked up his fourth big hit in three days with another two-run single to extend the UChicago lead to 8-1. The seven-run cushion would be enough as the UChicago pitching staff remained lights out with 0 hits allowed in the final 5.2 innings of the game.

Wiesner and Weston led the offensive attack with two hits, and Weston added four RBIs while Halloran drove in two. UChicago had eight different batters score a run and record a hit in the win.

With the win, the UAA champions improve to 25-13 overall on the season. The Maroons will return to action tomorrow with a doubleheader at 1 PM and 4 PM CT against the Wheaton College Thunder. With a doubleheader sweep, UChicago would break the all-time school record of 26 regular season wins, set in both 2001 and 2025.