WALTHAM, MA- The Wheaton College baseball team plated the final
seven runs during Friday's non-conference road game at Brandeis
University en route to a 12-9 comeback victory under the lights on
Stein Diamond, as the Lyons recorded their 30th win for the fifth
straight season and seventh time over the last nine springs.
Wheaton, which is ranked 15th nationally and fifth in the
region, raised its record to 30-11, while the Judges fell to 16-23.
The visitors carried a 5-0 advantage into the fourth before
Brandeis exploded for nine runs in the home half. Wheaton got
a run back in the fifth before tacking on two more in the seventh
to make the score 9-8 in favor of the Judges. The Lyons
retook the lead in the eighth when sophomore Sean Munley
(Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) drove a
three-run double into right center for his 49th, 50th and 51st RBI
of the season.
A trio of Wheaton relief pitchers combined to toss 5.1 shutout
innings of five-hit ball, as junior Jon Shepard (Salisbury,
MA/Triton Regional) earned the win with two strikeouts and
four hits in 3.1 frames. Senior Jared Barnes (North
Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) fired a one-hit eighth, while
classmate Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston
West) collected his ninth save of the year, striking out
the side in the ninth after Brandeis' initial two hitters reached
safely.
Senior Nick Pecora (Highland Park,
NJ/Immaculata) belted his 21st double of the season,
extending his own program record, as the second batter in the
first, driving in freshman leadoff hitter Hal Landers
(Salem, NH/Salem), who had singled up the middle.
Wheaton capitalized on two Judge miscues in the third, scoring four
runs on three hits, with freshman Dan Demeo (Glastonbury,
CT/Glastonbury) notching his first collegiate double, a
two-run rip to right center.
After succumbing to nine runs on seven hits in the fourth,
including four knocks that went for extra bases, Wheaton slowly
chipped away. After the Lyons scored an unearned run in the
fifth to make the score 9-6, freshman Dan Haugh's (Andover,
MA/Saint John's Prep) team-high-tying seventh home run of
the season brought the visitors to within one in the seventh.
Three two-baggers highlighted Wheaton's eighth, with Munley's
serving as the big blow. Haugh and sophomore Eric
Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) also rapped doubles
in the frame. Munley's 51 RBI rank in a tie for fourth most
in a season in program history, as he finished 3-for-4 with three
runs and a trio of RBI.
Haugh also went 3-for-4 while driving in three runs and scoring
two, Landers was 2-for-3 with two runs and a pair of walks, while
Laliberte had two hits, a run and a walk. Demeo plated two
and added a walk, and junior Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro,
MA/Xaverian Brothers) scored twice. Classmate
Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro, MA/North
Attleboro) recorded a no-decision on the mound.
Wheaton finishes its regular season tomorrow at Division I
Bryant University at 1:00 p.m. The Lyons first faced a
Division I school in 2006, dropping an 8-5 decision at the College
of the Holy Cross.
