MANSFIELD, CT- The second-seeded Wheaton College baseball team
dropped an NCAA New England Regional Tournament opening-round game
for the first time since 2000 on Wednesday night at Eastern
Connecticut State University, as the Lyons fell to number-seven
University of Massachusetts at Boston by a 12-3 count in the
double-elimination tourney at Eastern Baseball Stadium.
Ranked 14th nationally by D3baseball.com and second in the most
recent New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA)
poll, the Lyons suffered just their second setback in 17 games to
fall to 32-9. Wheaton will face sixth seed Westfield State
College for the first time in program history in an elimination
game tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. Ranked sixth in the region,
UMass-Boston improves to 29-15.
Sophomore Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's
Prep) had a hand in each of Wheaton's three runs, going
2-for-3 with three RBI, a home run and a double. Freshman
Sean Ryan (Norton, MA/Norton) drew a pair of walks
with one run, while sophomore Hal Landers (Salem,
NH/Salem) also scored.
Sophomore righty Nolan Corr (Somersworth, NH/Saint
Thomas Aquinas), who was named NEIBA Co-Pitcher of the
Year yesterday, was saddled with just his second loss of the
season. He fell to 8-2 after giving up three earned runs on
nine hits in 4.1 innings.
Junior Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, NH/Northfield Mount
Hermon School) went 4-for-6 with two runs, a pair of RBI,
two doubles and a home run for the Beacons. Classmate
Tim Fontaine (Worcester, MA/South) was 3-for-5
with five RBI, while three others notched two hits each.
Sophomore southpaw James Dalton (Apopka,
FL/Apopka) tossed his sixth complete game of the season,
surrendering four hits with nine strikeouts and three walks.
Wheaton put its first two runners on via a single from Landers
and a walk by Ryan. After senior Paul Malaguti
(Andover, MA/Andover) sacrificed the runners over, Haugh
ripped a two-run double down the left field line.
The Beacons answered with a pair of runs in the top half of the
second, stringing together three hits to knot the score at
two. After each team left two runners in scoring position in
the third frame, UMass-Boston pushed across an unearned run for a
3-2 edge in the fourth. The Beacons threatened to add more,
but freshman shortstop Eric Jensen (Gorham,
NH/Gorham) took away a hit up the middle after making a
diving stop and gloving the ball to junior second baseman
Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School) to
end the inning.
UMass-Boston was back at it in the fifth, drawing a leadoff walk
before smacking back-to-back singles with one down for its fourth
run in chasing Corr. Freshman southpaw Justin Santiago (Bronx, NY/Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy) induced
a fly out to left and two batters later fanned a Beacon player to
avert further damage.
The Beacon lead was ballooned to 8-2 in the sixth thanks to four
extra-base hits, including a two-run blast over the left field wall
from Reinfurt. In the home half, Haugh drove a solo shot to a
similar location as Reinfurt, narrowing the gap to five with his
team-leading fifth homer of the year. However, UMass-Boston
tacked on two runs in each the seventh and ninth innings to put the
game out of reach.
