BOX
SCORE
NORTON, MA- The nationally-ranked Wheaton College baseball team
overcame an early three-run deficit to earn at least a share of its
10th New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)
regular season title in the league's 11-year history, downing
Babson College, 5-4 on Monday in Sidell Stadium.
The Lyons, who were ranked fourth in last week's D3baseball.com
poll and are first in this week's New England Intercollegiate
Baseball Association (NEIBA) regional rankings, improved to 24-3
overall and 9-0 in the league. The Beavers fell to 13-13 and 4-6 a
year after becoming the lone team other than Wheaton to earn a
NEWMAC regular season crown.
Babson scored twice in the first inning and once more in the
second, with a run scoring each inning on a sacrifice fly from
senior Bryan Evans (Bellaire, TX/Episcopal), but
the Beavers left seven men on base over the first three frames. The
Lyons got on the board when freshman Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem)
launched a two-run homer to right with one down in the second
before junior Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) dropped a two-out
flare into center field in the third, plating classmate Jeff
Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers).
The visitors stranded another runner on second base in each the
fourth and fifth innings before junior Jon Shepard (Salisbury,
MA/Triton Regional) finished off his four shutout frames of relief
by retiring the Beavers in order in the sixth, marking the only
time Babson went down 1-2-3 all day.
Wheaton put together a rally in the sixth, as Malaguti walked
leading off before sophomore Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson,
NY/Hastings) drew a free pass with two down. Classmate Eric
Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) followed with a single to
left, but Evans gunned down Malaguti trying to score from second.
The top of the seventh ended by Laliberte countering with a nice
defensive play of his own, sliding to his left from his position at
second base and corralling a grounder to help strand another Beaver
at second.
The Lyons took their first lead in the bottom of the seventh.
Senior Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) led off with a
double, Lieneck sacrificed him along, and sophomore Sean Munley
(Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) plated the go-ahead run
with a groundout. Freshman Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's
Prep) followed with a two-out double to the gap in left, and
Malaguti singled him home.
After Babson scored an eighth-inning run on an outfield miscue to
pull within 5-4 and still had a runner on second with one down,
senior closer Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) retired the
final two batters on a fly ball to center and a strikeout. In the
ninth, freshman Travis Jonasson (Needham, MA/Catholic
Memorial) singled into the left center gap, and only a
fine running play by Malaguti and a quick throw to the infield kept
him from reaching second. From there, Simmons induced a pair of
grounders to end the contest.
Malaguti raised his average to .467 by going 2-for-3 with two RBI,
while Laliberte added a pair of knocks. Sophomore Chad Kasik
(Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) tossed a shutout seventh to
earn the win before Simmons went two innings for his fifth
save.
Sophomore Billy Besinger (Milton, MA/Catholic
Memorial) went 3-for-5 to lead Babson, junior
Peter O'Toole (Salem, MA/Saint John's Prep) was
2-for-4 with two runs, and classmate Jake Bartlett
(Weymouth, MA/Boston College) added a pair of knocks.
Senior Jeff Wojnar (Bellaire, TX/Episcopal) went
6.2 frames in the loss, yielding five earned runs on seven hits.
NOTE: Taken from a Wheaton College press release.
