NORTON,
Mass. -- The Wheaton College baseball team scored the
final three runs in Friday's non-conference game against visiting
Bridgewater State College, as the Lyons edged out the Bears, 3-2,
despite stranding 15 runners and loading the bases in five
different innings at Sidell Stadium.
Receiving votes
in the D3baseball.com national poll and ranked second regionally by
the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA),
Wheaton knocked off Bridgewater State by a single run for the
second time this season to improve to 19-7. The
Bears slipped to 12-11.
Freshman
Justin Santiago (Bronx, NY) improved to 3-0 on the
hill, going 6.1 innings while yielding the two runs on five hits
with three strikeouts and four walks. Sophomore
David Longley (Brunswick, ME) fanned three Bear
batters over 1.2 hitless frames, and senior closer Jon
Shepard (Salisbury, MA) turned in a 1-2-3 ninth with two
strikeouts for his fourth save of the
spring.
Sophomore
Hal Landers (Salem, NH) and freshman Eric
Jensen (Gorham, NH) combined on five of Wheaton's eight
hits, with Landers going 3-for-5 with a pair of bunt singles and
Jensen recording two knocks and one run. Junior
Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ) drew two walks, was hit
by a pitch twice and plated a run, while freshman Sean Ryan
(Norton, MA) drove in a run and swiped
two bags.
Junior
Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH) drew two walks and
scored once, senior Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA)
had a pair of walks, and junior Hadi Raad
(Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) accounted for a run and a
walk.
Bridgewater
State managed just five hits, as junior Ian Williams
(Taunton, MA) went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while
senior Tom Couet (East Freetown, MA) smacked an
RBI double to left during his team's two-run first
inning. Freshman Bryant Warner (Harwich,
MA) suffered his initial loss of the season, surrendering
two earned runs while scattering six hits with four strikeouts and
six walks over five-plus innings.
A two-out rally
for the Bears provided them their lone two runs, as Williams
recorded an RBI single before scoring on Couet's
two-bagger. After jamming the bags in a
scoreless first, Wheaton countered with two runs in the second, as
back-to-back singles and a base on balls led to another
bases-loaded situation. Ryan plated the first
run and Raad also scored on the play on an errant
throw.
Santiago settled
in after a tough first inning, retiring 13 of his next 16 batters
while not allowing a hit before giving up a two-out single in the
sixth. The hosts left the bases loaded in each
the fourth, sixth and seventh innings but did manage a run in the
sixth, when Munley drew a two-out RBI walk.
Wheaton again loaded them up in the seventh with one down, but
freshman relief pitcher Jonathan Surette (Lynn,
MA) fanned a batter and induced a pop fly to squash the
Lyon rally.