NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College baseball team extended its
winning streak to eight games while clinching at least a share of
the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)
regular season championship with a doubleheader sweep over host
Babson College on Saturday at Govoni Field. The Lyons won 2-1
in the opener before pounding out 19 hits during a 16-7 triumph in
game two, earning no worse than a share of their 11th regular
season title in the conference's 12-year history.
Wheaton, which was receiving votes in a pair of national polls
and the regional rankings, twice knocked off a team tied for first
in the New England poll to improve to 16-5 overall and 9-1 in
league play. The Lyons need to win just one of their two
remaining conference games against Worcester Polytechnic Institute
(WPI) next Saturday to claim the outright regular season title and
top seed in the NEWMAC Tournament. Babson fell to 17-7 and
7-4.
In the opener, Wheaton plated the winning run in the seventh and
final frame while finishing with just four hits. Sophomore
righty Nolan Corr
(Somersworth, NH/Saint Thomas Aquinas) was impressive for
the fifth consecutive start, striking out six without issuing a
walk while allowing a mere five hits and facing three batters over
the minimum to improve to a perfect 5-0.
Sophomore Dan Haugh (Andover,
MA/Saint John's Prep) played a part in both runs, going
1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly in the first. He scored the
winning run in the seventh after leading off the frame with a
single, moving to second and third on a balk and wild pitch,
respectively, and coming around on junior Sean Munley's
(Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) sac fly to
center.
Babson senior Michael O'Brien (Shrewsbury, MA/Saint
John's) suffered his first loss of the season, giving up
one earned run on four hits with seven strikeouts and two
walks. O'Brien didn't allow a hit until junior Hadi Raad
(Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) poked a fifth-inning
single up the middle with one down.
Corr yielded four hits through the first two frames before only
giving way to a harmless single in the fifth over the final five
innings. He retired the last seven batters he faced,
including recording a 1-2-3 sixth and seventh.
Game two saw Wheaton explode for 16 runs on 19 hits, as six
different Lyons posted at least two hits. Senior righty
Nick
Kostaras (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro) went a
solid six-plus innings, surrendering four runs, including three
earned, with three strikeouts and one walk to improve to 2-1.
Freshman Mike McGinnis
(Mashpee, MA/Mashpee) fanned three Babson batters during
the final two frames.
Classmate Sean Ryan (Norton,
MA/Norton) went 4-for-5 with two runs and a pair of walks,
while sophomore Hal Landers (Salem,
NH/Salem) was 3-for-5 with three runs, two RBI, two walks
and a double. Senior Paul Malaguti
(Andover, MA/Andover) also doubled while driving in four
runs with two hits.
Haugh and junior Tad Skelley
(Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School) each had three hits with
two runs, with Skelley adding a pair of RBI and a double, while
Munley and senior Jeff Lieneck
(Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers) notched three RBI
apiece. Lieneck was also hit by a pitch three times and had
two runs, Munley belted a two-run homer among his two hits, and
freshman Eric Jensen (Gorham, NH/Gorham) scored
twice.
The Beavers had five multiple hitters, while sophomore hurler
Trevor MacNeill (Hanover, MA/Hanover) took the
loss, giving up five runs with three strikeouts and four walks in
3.1 frames.
After each team exchanged a run in the first, Wheaton plated
three in the third before extending its advantage to 10-2 heading
into the bottom of the seventh. Babson made it 10-6 in the
home half and, after each team scored once in the eighth, the Lyons
put the game out of reach with a five-run ninth.
Wheaton returns home tomorrow to face non-league rival
University of Southern Maine at 1:00 p.m.
