Box Score VIDEO: Highlights from Wheaton/WPI
NORTON, Mass. - Senior Preseason All-America selection Dan Haugh (Andover, Mass./St. John's Prep) went 3-for-5 with four RBI as the No. 6 Wheaton College baseball team improved to 22-4 with a 9-3 win over WPI in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action Friday afternoon at Sidell Stadium.
Senior John Keating (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), junior Sean Ryan (Norton, Mass./Norton), and freshman Kevin Foley (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug) each recorded two hits and two runs for Wheaton, which improved to 11-2 in the NEWMAC. Haugh, meanwhile, moved into third-place all-time at Wheaton with 54 doubles and into a third-place tie with Scott Guillerault (2005-08) with 172 career RBI.
Senior Nolan Corr (Somersworth, N.H./Saint Thomas Aquinas) started on the bump and surrendered two runs (one earned) on six hits over seven innings to improve to 4-1. The Lyons have won seven of their last eight games.
Haugh staked the Lyons to a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI single that brought in junior Eric Jensen (Gorham, N.H./Gorham). The Engineers tied the game in the fourth on an RBI double by junior Brendan Walsh (Windham, N.H./Central Catholic).
In the fifth, the Lyons manufactured a run on a fielders choice off the bat of Jensen for a 2-1 lead. Later in the frame, Haugh cleared the bases with a long double down the right field line which gave Wheaton a 5-1 lead. Freshman Apolinar De la Cruz (Providence, R.I./Classical) followed with a single up the middle to plate Haugh and make it 6-1. The hit gives De la Cruz at least one in 22 of the Lyons 26 games.
A pair of sac flies by seniors Dan Demeo (Glastonbury, N.Y./Glastonbury) and Hal Landers (Salem, N.H./Salem) in the sixth pushed Wheaton's lead to 8-1. WPI (19-11, 8-5 NEWMAC) got one back in the seventh on an RBI single off the bat of sophomore Tim Erlandson (Hudson, Mass./Hudson).
In Wheaton's half of the frame, Ryan led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-2 Wheaton. Sophomore David Trujillo (Sutton, Mass./St. John's) capped the scoring with a run-scoring single in the eighth.
Corr walked one and struck out four. Senior Sean Minor (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame) fell to 6-2 with the loss, allowing nine hits and eight runs over five innings. He walked four and fanned two.
"That was one of the better pitchers we've faced this season," said Lyons head coach Eric Podbelski. "He was real tough early on, but our guys were locked in and competing. They knew we had a challenge on our hands today. Nolan did his job and held them down, which allowed us to break through."
The two schools play a doubleheader tomorrow at noon in Worcester.
