Wheaton Pounds Out 22 Hits to Overtake WPI, 10-3 in First Round of NEWMAC Baseball Tournament
NORTON, MA- Six Wheaton College baseball players recorded at
least three hits and the second-seeded Lyons pounded out 22 overall
en route to a 10-3 victory over fifth seed Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (WPI) in Wednesday's opening round of the
double-elimination New England Women's and Men's Athletic
Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament at Sidell Stadium.
Ranked 12th nationally by the American Baseball Coaches Association
(ABCA), Wheaton improves to 28-7 and will host third-seeded
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tomorrow afternoon at
3:30 p.m. WPI, which is now 16-16-1, plays in an elimination
game tomorrow at top seed Babson College. MIT defeated
number-four Springfield College, 11-2, while sixth-seeded Clark
University upset Babson, 12-11.
The Wheaton offense tagged Engineer junior ace Conor Fahey
(Cumberland, RI/Cumberland), who entered the game with an
8-1 mark and 3.09 earned run average, with nine runs and 16 hits,
chasing the righthander with two down in the fifth inning.
The Lyons scored seven times on eight hits in the frame to break
open a 2-2 game. Wheaton senior ace Chris McDonough
(Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) went six innings to collect his
fifth win of the season, allowing two runs on eight hits with three
strikeouts and one walk.
Wheaton sophomore Paul Malaguti (Andover,
MA/Andover), who went 4-for-6 with two RBI and a pair of
runs, opened the game with one of three straight singles before
junior Robert Foote's (Walpole, MA/Walpole)
fielder's choice scored Malaguti. The Lyons again loaded the
bags with nobody out in the second on a trio of singles but could
only push one run across, as senior Jake Yagjian's
(Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional) sacrifice fly to right
field made it a 2-0 game.
The Engineers knotted the game in the third, using two singles from
senior Brandon Steacy (Framingham, MA/Framingham)
and freshman Bryan Watkins (Belmont, MA/Belmont)
and a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners with one down. A
run-scoring grounder to second by sophomore Mike Swanton
(Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) and an RBI double off the bat of
junior Scott McNee (Falmouth, MA/Falmouth) knotted
the contest at two.
McDonough pitched around a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by forcing
a groundout to third to end the threat before the hosts blew the
game open in the bottom half. Wheaton's first five batters
posted hits, with junior Nick Pecora's (Highland Park,
NJ/Immaculata) two-run double off the right center field
fence serving as the big blow. Malaguti slammed his third
home run of the spring, a two-run shot over the scoreboard beyond
the right field fence, and Foote, senior Ken Depasse
(Holden, MA/Saint John's) and freshman Eric
Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) had one RBI each in
the frame.
Depasse's first career dinger in the sixth pushed Wheaton's lead
out to 10-2 before WPI sophomore Cody McGregor (Westfield,
MA/Avon Old Farms) plated Watkins in the seventh for the
final scoring. Lyon freshman southpaw Kevin Calabro
(Andover, MA/Andover) yielded one run on three hits with
two strikeouts and three walks in 2.1 innings of relief, while
sophomore Jon Shepard (Salisbury, MA/Triton
Regional) closed out the ninth with a groundout and
strikeout.
Depasse finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run, Laliberte
went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Foote, Yagjian and
senior Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South
Portland) rapped three hits each, with Foote driving in
two and scoring one. For WPI, Watkins was 3-for-5 with two
runs, Steacy batted 2-for-4 with a run, McNee plated a pair, and
senior Ryan Rainone (Oakville, CT/Watertown
Regional) went 2-for-5.
Wheaton College 10, WPI 3 (Apr 23, 2008 at Norton, Mass.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WPI................. 002 000 100 - 3 11
1 (16-16-1)
Wheaton College..... 110 071 00X - 10 22
1 (28-7)
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Pitchers: WPI - Conor Fahey; Alex Hansen(5); Jason Forte(8).
Wheaton College - Chris McDonough;
Kevin Calabro(7); Jon Shepard(9).
Win-Chris McDonough(5-2) Loss-Conor Fahey(8-2)
T-2:35 A-200
HR WHE - Paul Malaguti; Ken Depasse
Copyright 2008 The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference. All rights reserved.