MANSFIELD, CT- The second-seeded Wheaton College baseball team
staved off elimination during the second round of the NCAA New
England Regional Tournament on Thursday afternoon against sixth
seed Westfield State College at Eastern Connecticut State
University, as the Lyons jumped out in front early en route to a
9-5 victory over the Owls in the teams' first meeting at Eastern
Baseball Stadium.
Wheaton, which is ranked 14th nationally by D3baseball.com and
second by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association
(NEIBA), improved to 33-9 and will face the winner of today's next
game between top seed Tufts University and number-four Eastern
tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Finishing their season at 30-11, the
Owls came into today's action tied for seventh in the regional
rankings.
The Lyons turned in six multi-hit performances, with junior
Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of
Princeton), sophomore Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint
John's Prep) and freshman Sean Ryan (Norton,
MA/Norton) having three knocks apiece. Juniors
Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) and
Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School) and
freshman Eric Jensen (Gorham, NH/Gorham) each had
two.
Munley went 3-for-5 with four RBI, a double and a homer, Haugh
was 3-for-4 with two runs and a two-bagger, while Ryan drove in two
and tripled. Jensen had a run and an RBI, and Skelley drew
two walks. Senior Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro,
MA/North Attleboro) improved to 6-1 after yielding five
runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Three
Wheaton relievers combined on 3.2 innings of shutout ball.
Westfield State junior Pete Hogan (Weymouth,
MA/Weymouth) went 3-for-4, two players posted two hits
each, while sophomore Aaron Messier (New Bedford, MA/New
Bedford) took the loss in surrendering five earned runs on
seven hits with a pair of walks in 1.2 frames.
Munley set the tone in the first inning with a two-out,
three-run blast over the right field fence, scoring Haugh and
senior Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover).
The Owls responded with a run on three hits in the home half and
nearly scored a second, but Jensen robbed a Westfield State player
of a hit after fielding a ball deep in the shortstop hole and
firing to second to end the inning.
After being held to four hits in Wednesday night's game, Wheaton
recorded four knocks by the second inning, as the Lyons collected
seven in the opening two frames alone. Ryan delivered the big
blow in the second with a two-out, two-run triple to left center
for a 5-1 advantage. The Owls got a run back in the bottom of
the third to make it 5-2.
The Blue and White extended its lead to 7-2 with a two-run
fifth, as Munley ripped a run-scoring single up the middle before
senior Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian
Brothers) brought in Wheaton's seventh run courtesy of a
sacrifice fly to center. Westfield State chased Kostaras in
the sixth after pushing three runs across on four hits, but junior
southpaw Kevin Calabro (Andover, MA/Andover) got
the Lyons out of a bases-loaded jam with one down by catching his
first batter looking on strikes before preventing further damage by
forcing a liner to left.
Wheaton added some insurance by getting a pair back in the
seventh, as Jensen singled home a run and sophomore Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem) drew a bases-loaded walk.
Landers followed up his walk with a great defensive play to begin
the home half, backtracking to center field before lunging forward
to make the catch at the warning track.
