NORTON, Mass. - In a rematch of last year's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament championship contest, the Wheaton College baseball team ran its winning streak to three games with a 7-4 victory over the United States Coast Guard Academy on Friday at Sidell Stadium.
Receiving national votes in the latest D3baseball.com poll, the Lyons improved to 7-4 and 2-3, while the Bears had their two-game winning streak end in slipping to 9-6 and 2-2.
Wheaton's first four batters combined to go 12-for-16, as the Lyons racked up 17 hits but also stranded 15 runners. Junior leadoff man Hal Landers (Salem, N.H./Salem) went 4-for-6 with three runs, classmate Dan Haugh (Andover, Mass./Saint John's Prep) batted 3-for-3 with two walks, while sophomore Sean Ryan (Norton, Mass./Norton) added three hits and two RBI.
Senior Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, N.H./Holderness School) was 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBI and two sacrifices, freshman Mike Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H./Goffstown) had two doubles, senior Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings) added two hits, sophomore Justin Connor (Arlington, Mass./Arlington) scored twice, and senior Sean Munley (Ewing, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) drew a pair of walks.
Junior righty Nolan Corr (Somersworth, N.H./Saint Thomas Aquinas) worked six-plus innings with five strikeouts and no walks while giving up three earned runs on seven hits for the win, while freshman Ryan Grant (Easton, Mass./Avon Old Farms School) earned his second save in as many days.
Coast Guard sophomore Mike Massaro (Sewell, N.J./William Penn Charter School) and freshman Dave Wolinski (Henrico, Va./Freeman) had two hits apiece, while senior Jesse Karr (Milan, Mich./Milan) suffered his first loss of the spring, surrendering four runs, two earned, with two strikeouts and four walks.
Wheaton manufactured a run in the first, with Landers singling to lead off, moving to second on a sacrifice, advancing to third on Ryan's single and scoring on Munley's groundout. Skelley's two-run single with two down in the second made the score 3-0, as Wheaton took advantage of a Coast Guard defensive miscue to extend the frame.
After leaving the bags jammed in the third, the Lyons tacked on a run the following inning, with Haugh launching a double deep into center field that scored Skelley, who singled through the right side. Wheaton stranded eight runners through the first four innings. The hosts added a run in the sixth, as Landers doubled down the right field line before being sacrificed over to third and scoring on a Ryan base knock.
Coast Guard rallied with four runs in the seventh to get within one, as the first six Bears reached base safely courtesy of four hits and two walks. Massaro, junior Eddie Kalankiewicz (San Diego, Calif./University City) and sophomores Tyler Babkiewich (Golden, Colo./Golden) and Cameron Carroll (Reno, Nev./Earl Wooster) had an RBI each. The Lyons responded with a pair of unearned runs in the home half to complete the scoring, as Connor was plated on a wild pitch while Skelley scored on a Ryan single up the middle.
Wheaton finishes its three-game series with Coast Guard tomorrow afternoon in New London, Connecticut, with a doubleheader beginning at 12:00 p.m.
