Weekly Lyon

Baseball (34-10, 9-3) Splits Four NCAA Tournament Games, Falls in Consolation Final

The Wheaton College baseball team, ranked 11th in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll, split four games at the NCAA New England Tournament last week, seeing its season end in the consolation bracket final. It marked the fourth straight campaign that the Lyons were among the final four teams remaining in the regional tournament and the sixth time in seven years. Second-seeded Wheaton downed number-seven Worcester State College, 4-3 in 12 innings on Wednesday before picking up a 12-2 win over third-seeded Keene State College on Thursday. The Lyons fell to number-one Trinity College, 6-2 on Friday, as the undefeated Bantams eventually won the tournament, before Wheaton was eliminated on Saturday with a 9-3 loss to number-four University of Southern Maine. The Blue and White competed in its eighth NCAA Tournament in nine years after only attaining varsity status in 1998. Sophomore Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover), who batted .389 and slugged .778 while recording a tournament-high four doubles, was one of 11 players named to the all-tournament team.

Against Worcester State, sophomore Jeff Lieneck's (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers) two-out single in the bottom of the 12th inning plated senior Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) with the winning run after Wheaton had knotted the game on Guillerault's two-out, two-run homer in the ninth. Guillerault went 2-for-4 with two RBI while scoring three of his team's four runs. He and Malaguti were also each twice hit by a pitch, while freshman Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) was 2-for-5. Senior southpaw Chris McDonough (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) pitched well, but defensive lapses by the Lyons allowed all three of the runs he yielded during 7.2 innings to be unearned. He walked two and struck out six, junior Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) fanned the only batter he faced, and senior Keith Pescosolido (Newton, MA/Newton North) struck out four while allowing one hit in two scoreless innings. Junior Jared Barnes (North Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) picked up the win, setting down all six batters he faced during two innings of work.

Wheaton broke out of a 2-2 tie against Keene State, ranked 17th by the ABCA, with 10 runs over the final three innings. Junior Robert Foote's (Walpole, MA/Walpole) RBI single made it 3-2 in the seventh before freshman Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) plated three more on a two-out double. Malaguti hit a solo homer in the eighth and added a two-run double in the ninth, Guillerault singled home a pair during the frame, and sophomore Sean Buckley (Webster, MA/Bartlett) beat out an infield hit while driving in a run. Malaguti finished 3-for-5 with three runs, three RBI, two doubles and the home run. Guillerault was 2-for-3 with two RBI and three walks, junior Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) had two hits and two runs, while senior Ken Depasse (Holden, MA/Saint John's) walked twice. Junior Adam Gingras (Woonsocket, RI/Woonsocket) earned the win with seven innings of four-hit ball, yielding two runs while walking one and striking out five. Freshman Chad Kasik (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) tossed two shutout frames, allowing one hit while fanning three.

Against Trinity, which is ranked second in the nation, Wheaton rallied from a 2-0 deficit with one run in the fourth and another in the sixth before the Bantams scored three times with two down in the bottom half. Malaguti scored the Lyons' fourth-inning run on an error, while senior Jake Yagjian's (Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional) groundout plated Depasse with the tying run in the sixth. Depasse finished 2-for-3, while Malaguti was 2-for-4 with a double.

Munley singled home Malaguti in the first inning versus Southern Maine to give Wheaton the lead, but the Huskies scored the next eight runs, and Wheaton stranded 14 runners. Buckley, Malaguti and Munley each ended with two hits, as eight of the Lyons' starting nine had at least one hit.

Thanks in large part to Gingras and McDonough, who each tied a program record with two shutouts, Wheaton notched a school-record seven shutouts in 2008. McDonough is just the second Lyon to record a pair of two-shutout campaigns, while Simmons tied for third at Wheaton with 10 saves this spring. The Lyons have set the program's walks (211), hit-by-pitch (79) and sacrifice flies (29) marks, with Wheaton enduring nine hit batsmen during the NCAA Tournament alone. Gingras finished 8-0, tying the program record for wins, as he helped Wheaton match the third-highest victory total in school history. Guillerault hit 16 doubles, two short of the program record, while Munley's 42 RBI matched Wheaton's freshman mark. Lieneck set a standard by being hit 15 times by a pitch.

Guillerault is among the top five in many career categories at Wheaton, ranking first in games played (185), walks (130) and hit-by-pitch (38), second in home runs (26), RBI (172) and runs (156), tying for second in sacrifice flies (12), ranking third in doubles (53) and fourth in slugging (.522) and on-base (.446) percentages. Yagjian placed second in games (172) and assists (472), tied for second in sacrifice flies (12), tied for third in time hit by a pitch (26), and placed fourth in bases on balls (80) and fifth in hits (205). McDonough finished his career first in strikeouts (233) and complete games (11), second in innings pitched (262.2), tied for second in shutouts (4), third in wins (21) and fourth in ERA (2.60). Simmons is second in saves (18) and tied for second in pitching appearances (60), while Pescosolido is fourth in games (57).

Men's and Women's Track and Field Competitors Meet Three NCAA Standards at ECACs

The Wheaton College men's and women's outdoor track and field teams competed in their final meet before the NCAA Championship, as the squads took part in the two-day Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship, which came to an end on Friday at Springfield College. One school record fell and three athletes met qualification standards for the national meet, as the women took 16th place out of 53 scoring teams, while the men were 33rd among 53 squads.

Freshman Erin Neville (North Providence, RI/La Salle Academy) recorded a height of 5' 5 1/4" during the high jump, placing second while provisionally qualifying for NCAAs. Senior Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) eclipsed a national meet standard, coming in third during the 1,500-meter run at 4:37.76 to break a six-year-old school record by 2.01 seconds. Wheaton's 4x100M relay quartet came within 0.10 ticks of a provisional time, as juniors Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) and Morgan Jamiel (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate), sophomore Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) and freshman Laurenmaria Smith (Providence, RI/Hope) finished in 48.75 while taking third among 31 foursomes. Jamiel also competed in the heptathlon, recording 3,937 points to come within 74 of a nine-year-old school mark. On the men's side, sophomore Howard Powell (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) provisionally qualified for NCAAs by completing the 110M hurdles in 14.70 to place fifth. During the high jump, freshman Marcus Kohlman (Milton, MA/Milton) tied for fourth. Wheaton's provisional qualifiers find out this week whether they have qualified for the NCAA Championship, while Ezeigwe and the 4x400M relay team have already clinched spots at the meet.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 5/19/08.
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