AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team pounded out a season-high 17 hits and junior starting pitcher Ryan McCarroll (Clifton Park, N.Y.) allowed just one run on five hits, leading to an 18-8 victory over Illinois Wesleyan University this afternoon at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale, Fla. as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The game was halted in the bottom of the seventh inning due to the 10-run mercy rule as mandated by the Invitational.
The Lyons improve to 3-3 on the season, while the Titans fall to 8-4.
Wheaton has scored 31 runs in the past two days and scored multiple runs in all but one inning in the game. Both pitching staffs combined to hit seven batters in the game.
The Lyons scored a run in the first, before scoring five times in the second, four runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and six in the sixth. Illinois Wesleyan got on the board with a run in the fifth and scored seven times in the top of the seventh.
Junior first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) was 3-4 with three runs batted in and a run scored, while junior designated hitter Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) knocked in two runs with a 2-3 effort that saw him score a pair of runs for Wheaton. Junior second baseman Tommy Beauregard (Salem, Mass.) was 2-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. First year catcher Tyler Bellan (Franklin, Mass.) and first year left fielder Shawn Cali (East Taunton, Mass.) each collected a pair of hits to give the team six Lyons with multiple hits and 10 different players with at least one hit. The pair of knocks for Cali were the first of his collegiate career. McCarroll issued one walk to go with six strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 1-1 on the season.
Junior Jimmy Gurgone (Mokena, Ill.) came off the bench to go 2-2 with a pair of runs batted in and a run scored, while first year Jack Novak (Mokena, Ill.) contributed with a 2-3 effort that produced an RBI and a run scored off the bench as well. Sophomore right fielder Jimmy Martin (Western Springs, Ill.) drove in a pair of runs and was 1-3 with a run scored. Junior righty starting pitcher Dalen Banks (Springfield, Ill.) suffered the loss, allowing 10 runs (one earned) on nine hits in four innings of work to drop to 2-1.
The Lyons broke into the scoring column when senior center fielder AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) was hit by a pitch and later came around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Matos to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead. The Lyons began the makings of a rout, taking advantage of three errors to score five more runs in the second to increase their advantage to 6-0. Beauregard drove an RBI single through the left side to double Wheaton's lead at 2-0, before the Lyons picked up two more runs with the benefit of the third Titan error of the inning to take a 4-0 margin. Matos and Wagner both ripped RBI singles up the middle to give Wheaton a six-run cushion.
Wheaton tacked on four more runs in the fourth to take a 10-0 advantage. Wagner knocked in another run with a single to center field, before Matos, who had also reached on a single, came home ahead of a sacrifice fly off the bat of first year third baseman Casey Wensley (Raynham, Mass.) to score the eighth Lyon run. Bellan cracked a double to left field to plate Wagner and Beauregard beat out an infield single to third base to plate the 10th run of the game for Wheaton.
Illinois Wesleyan broke into the scoring column with two outs in the bottom of the fifth when senior pinch-hitter Michael Passarelli (Chicago, Ill.) punched a double to right-center field and Gurgone delivered an RBI single to center to make it 10-1.
The Lyons' bats continued to produce with two more runs in the fifth to take a 12-1 lead. Wagner maintained a hot bat, registering a run batted in with a hit in his third consecutive at-bat with a single to left center field and Wensley forced in a run with a fielder's choice.
Wheaton's lineup batted around for the second time in the game to score its final six runs to take a commanding 18-1 advantage in the top of the sixth. Maher knocked in a run with a single to left, before junior pinch hitter Anthony Teberio (Andover, Mass.) left no doubt with a long ball over the left field fence for a three-run home run and a 16-1 Lyon lead. Cali later followed with an RBI double to the left-center gap, before sophomore pinch-hitter Marcus Rodrigues (Lincoln, R.I.) recorded his first collegiate hit with a single to right field to drive in the final Wheaton run.
Despite being down by 17 runs, the Titans did not go away quietly, erupting for seven runs in the bottom of the seventh to set the final at 18-8. Gurgone singled to center to plate Illinois Wesleyan's second run and junior shortstop Justin Gadomski (Schaumburg, Ill.) knocked in two more runs later in the inning with a double down the left field line to cut the deficit to 18-5. Two hit batters later, Novak registered his second hit of the inning with a run-scoring single to left field, before Martin closed the scoring for both teams with a two-run single to left to set the final at 18-8.
The Lyons return to action tomorrow when they take on Coe College for a 9:30 a.m. first pitch at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex, while the Titans play University of Minnesota-Morris at 9:00 a.m. in Davenport, Fla. at Northeast Regional Park.
