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May 17, 2008

Southern Maine Eliminates Wheaton from NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament With 9-3 Decision in Loser's Bracket Final

HARWICH, MA- The second-seeded Wheaton College baseball team saw its season come to a close Saturday night in the semifinal round of the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament, falling to fourth seed University of Southern Maine, 9-3 at Whitehouse Field.  

Finishing their season at 34-10, which ties for the third-highest win total in program history, the Lyons fell to the Huskies for the first time in the last 10 meetings.  Ranked 11th nationally according to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Wheaton hadn't lost to Southern Maine since 2004.  Now 36-13, the Huskies advance to Sunday's championship round to face unbeaten Trinity College at 12:00 p.m.

Sophomore Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) smacked his fourth double of the tournament to give the Lyons an early lift in the first, and freshman Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) drove him home three batters later with a single down the left field line.  Wheaton squandered a golden opportunity in the second, loading the bases with one down, but Husky sophomore Mark Schmidt (Gorham, ME/Gorham) fanned his next batter before getting out of the jam by forcing a grounder to second.

Junior southpaw Brian Hughes (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) set down his first six batters, including three on strikes, before running into trouble in the third.  Southern Maine's seven through nine hitters rattled off three straight singles to knot the score at one.  After Hughes retired his next batter, Husky sophomore Collin Henry (Penobscot, ME/George Stevens Academy) plated Southern Maine's second run before a foul out to the catcher and liner to short ended the frame.

The Huskies opened things up in the fifth with six runs on seven hits, highlighted by a two-run homer from Henry and a two-run double from freshman Jordan Berthiaume (Berlin, CT/Berlin).  Junior Ryan Pike (Saco, ME/Thornton Academy) plated another run with a sacrifice fly to right, as did junior Andrew Stacy (Denmark, ME/Fryeburg Academy) with an RBI single through the left side.

Wheaton got a run back in the home half of the fifth courtesy of a Southern Maine error but left the bases jammed for the second time.  The Lyons left two more on in each the sixth and seventh innings, upping their total to 11 at that point.  The Huskies tacked on a run in the seventh, while Wheaton completed the scoring with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Lyons had a trio of multiple-hit performances, as Malaguti, Munley and sophomore Sean Buckley (Webster, MA/Bartlett) posted two hits apiece.  Hughes suffered his third loss of the season, yielding six earned runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and no walks in 4.2 innings.

Henry finished 3-for-5 with three RBI, one run, a double and a homer for Southern Maine, while sophomore Josh Mackey (Danvers, MA/Danvers) was 3-for-5 with a run.  Berthiaume went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run, and Stacy was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.  Schmidt tossed a complete game during his second start in four days, allowing 11 hits with eight strikeouts and five walks.