NEW LONDON, Conn. — Senior left fielder Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) and sophomore designated hitter Nick Ayres (Duxbury, Mass.) each hit solo homers and starting pitcher Ben Oliveira (Somerset, Mass.) surrendered just one run to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team to a 4-3 victory over host United States Coast Guard Academy this afternoon at Nitchman Field in New London, Conn.
The Lyons improve to 16-11 overall and 8-2 in NEWMAC play, while the Bears fall to 16-10 and 5-3.
Four home runs accounted for five of the seven runs in the game. Wheaton out-hit its host, 11-6. Coast Guard got on the board with a run in the bottom of the fourth, before the Lyons matched the run in the top half of the fifth. The Lyons took the lead with another run in the sixth, before adding two important insurance runs in the eighth to take a 4-1 lead. The Bears rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but fell short at 4-3.
Ayres was 2-4 with two runs scored, while Matos was 1-4 on the day for Wheaton. Oliveira allowed just one run on four hits and no walks over six and a third innings, while striking out four to improve to 4-1 on the season. Junior shortstop Ray Toth (Granby, Mass.) led all hitters with three hits, including a double in four at-bats, while first year second baseman Logan Downey (Warwick, Mass.) was 2-4 with a run batted in. Senior lefty Josh Fischer (Hopkinton, Mass.) picked up his seventh save of the year after allowing two runs on three hits to go with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth inning.
Junior shortstop Rick Barkley (Bellevue, Wash.) homered for the third time this season against the Lyons with a two-run shot, while sophomore first baseman Nathan Stafford (Jupiter, Fla.) blasted a solo home run for Coast Guard. Junior starting pitcher Harrison Milbert (Kingston, Mass.) was charged with the loss to drop to 2-3 after giving up two runs on five hits and a walk in five and two-thirds innings.
Matos broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth with his eighth long ball of the season and the 26th of his career to move into a tie for second with Scott Guillerault '08 on Wheaton's all-time career list.
The Lyons increased their margin to three with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. Senior first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) led off the frame with a double to the left-center gap, before moving to third on a ground out. Sophomore catcher Tyler Bellan (Franklin, Mass.) knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to center to give the visitors a two-run lead. Ayres and Toth followed with consecutive singles to set up an RBI single up the middle off the bat of Downey to stake Wheaton to a 4-1 margin.
The Bears weren't ready to concede defeat, scoring twice in the ninth to give the Lyons a scare. Senior catcher Parker Madden (Ruston, La.) served a single to left field, before Barkley launched his league-leading 10th round-tripper over the fence to pull Coast Guard within a run at 4-3. Fischer fanned two of the final three batters to nail down the win for Wheaton.
The Bears broke into the scoring column first when Stafford led off the fourth inning with a solo homer for a 1-0 lead. The Lyons matched the blast with one of their own to tie the game at 1-1 when Ayres belted his second homer of the year to open the fifth.
Wheaton returns to action on Thursday, April 17 when it hosts Eastern Connecticut State University at Sidell Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch, while Coast Guard heads to Hartford, Conn. to play University of Hartford on the same day at 6:05 p.m.
