NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College baseball team used a nine-run outburst in the bottom half of the eighth inning to turn a 10-5 deficit into an eventual 14-11 victory over visiting University of Southern Maine in non-conference action on Sunday at Sidell Stadium.

Receiving votes in a pair of national polls and the regional rankings, the Lyons ran their winning streak to nine games while improving to 17-5.  In its last eight wins, Wheaton has averaged 12.3 runs, scoring at least 13 six times.  The Huskies fell to 11-9.

Of the 10 runs Wheaton allowed through eight innings, only two were earned, as the Lyons committed defensive miscues during Southern Maine's six-run second and three-run seventh.  Wheaton scored all nine of its eighth-frame runs with two down, as the hosts drew six walks and rapped four hits while sending 14 batters to the plate.  Freshman Eric Jensen (Gorham, NH/Gorham) provided the big blow with a bases-clearing triple that snapped a tie and made the score 13-10.  Senior pinch hitter Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers), the previous batter, was hit by a pitch to knot the score.

With two runners on and two out, five straight Blue and White batters drew a base on balls, including four with the bases jammed, as the Lyons crept to within 10-9 before the Huskies made a pitching change.  Lieneck plated sophomore Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) before Jensen drove an 0-2 pitch down the right field line for what proved to be the game-winning hit.  Junior Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) had a pair of singles in the frame, including a run-scoring knock that gave Wheaton a 14-10 edge.

Southern Maine didn't go quietly in the ninth, as sophomore David Ricker (Winthrop, ME/Winthrop) led off with a double and was brought around on freshman Brett Barrett's (Keene, NH/Keene) single.  After the Huskies drew a walk and brought the tying run to the plate, Wheaton sophomore David Longley (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) caught his next batter looking on strikes before watching junior teammate Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) make a sensational all-out dive in right for the frame's second out.

Southern Maine loaded the bases following a base knock from junior Mike Eaton (Sabattus, ME/Oak Hill), who started the game on the mound, but Longley induced a short chopper in front of the plate that Lieneck scooped up and threw down to first to thwart the Husky threat.

Laliberte finished the game 4-for-4 with two RBI and a pair of runs from the ninth batting spot, while Jensen went 3-for-5 with three RBI, three runs, a double and a triple in the eighth hole.  Senior Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) and sophomore Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem) recorded two hits each, with Malaguti plating two and scoring twice, while Haugh and Raad drove in two each.  Haugh and junior Rob Jenkins (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) also recorded a double apiece, with Jenkins scoring a pair of runs, and junior Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) walked twice.

Freshman Justin Dickinson (Stratford, CT/Bunnell) picked up his first collegiate win, as he was one of six pitchers used for the Lyons.  Dickinson gave up one unearned run in the eighth with a hit and a walk.

Senior Mark Schmidt (Gorham, ME/Gorham) suffered the loss for the Huskies, allowing seven runs on one hit with one strikeout and six walks in two-plus innings.  Southern Maine's offense pounded out 18 hits, including three apiece from Eaton and freshman Tucker White (Deerfield, NH/Co-Brown Northwood Academy).  Ricker and sophomores Zach Fernandes (Eliot, ME/Marshwood) and Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, CT/Notre Dame) had two hits each.  Pisani and Ricker notched two RBI apiece, and Eaton scored three times.

The Lyons will face non-conference foe Curry College twice in the next two days, beginning with Monday afternoon's makeup at home at 3:30 p.m.