Box Score WORCESTER, Mass. - The Wheaton College baseball team dropped its season opener, 9-6, in extra innings to Nichols College Tuesday evening at Clark University.
The Bison improve to 2-0 on the season, while Wheaton starts the year 0-1.
The Lyons were led by Tyler Walsh and Joey Santigate who both finished the contest 2-for-4 from the plate, with Walsh coming in to score twice, while Santigate scored once and knocked in one. Jared Sharkey and Zach Goodwin-Boyd each finished 2-for-5 with Sharkey hitting Wheaton's first homerun of the season, while picking up a game-high three RBI.
Brady Furdon got the start for the Lyons, pitching five complete innings, allowing just four hits, while giving up just one run, while striking out one. Furdon was replaced by sophomore Tommy Larason who pitched 2.1 innings, before being replaced by Jimmy Gowan. First-year Trevor Marques, who picked up the loss for the Lyons, also saw action, as did Casey Twomey and submariner Paul McGeehan.
Nichols struck in the top of the first, taking a quick 1-0 lead, just to have it negated by an RBI single from Santigate that brought in first-year Nick Raposo. Sharkey ended the deadlock in the bottom of the second with his first homerun of the season and the first of his career, with a bomb over the fence in left center.
The Wheaton lead lasted until the top of the sixth when the Bison tied the game with an RBI single up the middle by first baseman Kyle Bouchard.
Sharkey once again stepped up for the Lyons, this time with a double to left center in the bottom half of the sixth that brought in Santigate and Tyler Walsh. Wheaton carried the scoring into the seventh with senior Josh LaJoie coming in to score on a wild pitch by Nichols, before Walsh came across on a passed ball.
Trailing 6-2, the Bison sent four across in the eighth, which eventually sent the game into extra innings. Nichols then found a way to send three more across in the 10th inning to capture the win.
The Lyons return to the field on Friday, March 10 at 4 p.m. against Rowan in the teams first game of the RussMatt Invitational.
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