Weekly Lyon

Baseball (38-8, 11-1) Wins First NCAA New England Regional Title, Sets Wins Record

The nationally-ranked Wheaton College baseball team went 4-0 last week, culminated by the Lyons winning their first NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament. The Blue and White finished its regular season with a 10-0 win over visiting Brandeis University on Monday before holding down the top seed in the regional tournament in Harwich. The Lyons downed fourth-seeded Salem State College, 5-2 Wednesday and defeated number six Western New England College, 6-0 on Friday before wrapping up the title with a 16-5 win against fifth-seeded University of Southern Maine on Saturday.

The Lyons finished as the only top-seeded team in the eight NCAA Division III regional tournaments to win its region. Wheaton, which is ranked sixth in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll and is the highest-ranked team remaining in the NCAAs, continues its season in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, beginning Friday in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The Lyons are slated to face North Carolina Wesleyan College for the first time in program history.

Against Brandeis at Sidell Stadium, Wheaton drove in a trio of runs during each the third, fourth and sixth innings to break open a scoreless contest. Senior Rafael Castillo (Queens, NY/Christ The King) plated the winning run with a suicide squeeze in the third, while sophomores Jake Yagjian (Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional) and Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) followed with RBI singles later in the inning. Yagjian led the Lyons by going 4-for-5 with four RBI and two runs, while Castillo collected three RBI and scored twice. Sophomore southpaw Josh Moore (Manchester, NH/Manchester Memorial) earned the win with a two-inning stint in relief.

Sophomore southpaw Chris McDonough (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) broke the program's eight-year-old, single-season strikeout mark after fanning 12 Salem State batters during Wheaton's opening game at the NCAA Tournament. McDonough, who recorded his first seven outs via a strikeout, also fell just one short of the team record for whiffs in a game. Junior Adam Laplante (Harwich, MA/Harwich) drove in the Lyons' first run during the first inning, classmate Travis Anthoine (Portland, ME/Portland) and Yagjian plated runs in the second, and Leonard singled home Laplante in the third. Freshman Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) followed McDonough with 0.2 innings of shutout ball in the eighth, and senior Jamie Baker (Boxford, MA/Masconomet Regional) recorded a four-out save. Leonard went 3-for-4, while Anthoine was 2-for-2 with two runs and a pair of walks. McDonough improved to 7-1 after allowing two earned runs on 10 hits with two walks in seven-plus innings of work. With 70 strikeouts, he broke Nate Vedrani's 1998 record of 69.

Three pitchers teamed up as the Lyons spun their fifth shutout of the season during a win over Western New England. Guillerault doubled home Anthoine for the game's first run in the third inning, while Castillo provided an RBI single in the fourth and Yagjian followed with a two-run base hit. Senior Chris Martin (Marshfield, MA/Marshfield) held the Golden Bears without a hit until the fifth inning and leaving after seven-plus innings of shutout work. Simmons and sophomore Keith Pescosolido (Newton, MA/Newton North) tossed an inning apiece in relief to keep Western New England off the board. Martin allowed three hits with six strikeouts in seven-plus innings to pick up his career-high seventh win, and the Lyon defense turned four ground-ball double plays. Yagjian finished 4-for-5 with two RBI and a double, while Castillo and Leonard provided two hits apiece.

In Wheaton's regional tournament-clinching victory, the Lyons banged out 17 hits and notched their program-record 38th victory. After yielding two runs in the top of the first inning, the Blue and White responded with four in the home half, keyed by Guillerault's two-run homer, his 13th of the season. With a 4-2 lead, Moore came on in relief with the bases loaded and none out in the second but escaped the jam unscathed. Laplante and sophomore Pat O'Connor (Mattapoisett, MA/Old Rochester Regional) extended the lead with back-to-back home runs in the third before Wheaton added four runs in the fifth inning and five in the sixth. Leonard's two-run double and Guillerault's two-run single keyed the fifth, while Guillerault's two-run double in the sixth was the inning's big blow. Moore recorded his seventh win, tossing 5.2 innings and allowing one earned run on five hits with four strikeouts. Guillerault was 4-for-4 with six RBI and two runs, while Yagjian went 3-for-5 with two runs. Laplante was 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs, while Anthoine and senior Mark Baumer (Durham, ME/Greely) each had two hits. Leonard scored three times, drove in two runs and had a pair of stolen bases. At the conclusion of play, Wheaton had four players named to the all-tournament team, as Leonard, Martin, McDonough and Yagjian each took honors.

Outdoor Track and Field Teams Turn in Solid Performances at ECAC Championship

The Wheaton College men's and women's outdoor track and field teams took part in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship last weekend at Springfield College, as the Lyon women tied for seventh out of 47 teams. The men did not score.

Freshman Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) continued her standout debut season with an NCAA Division III Championship provisional time of 25.23 during a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash. Ezeigwe also ran for a pair of relay foursomes, including the victorious 4x400-meter relay team that included fellow first-year athletes Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School), Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) and Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton). During the 4x100-meter relay, Ezeigwe, junior Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater), and freshmen Morgan Jamiel (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate) and Samira Sanders (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) combined on a seventh-place showing. Calderwood finished sixth during the 800M, senior Kendra Leith (Holden, MA/Wachusett Regional) came in seventh during the 5,000M, and Harlow turned in a sixth-place time of 15.2 during the finals of the 100-meter hurdles.

On the men's side, senior Ajay Sisodia (Andover, MA/Andover) recorded a 10th-place showing in the 400-meter dash, finishing fourth among New England competitors. Sisodia also teamed with freshmen Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington), Victor Martinez (Exeter, NH/Phillips Exeter Academy) and Michael Wright (Baldwin, NY/Uniondale) for the 4x100-meter relay, which the quartet finished just 0.5 behind the final scoring foursome.

Harlow, an automatic qualifier in the high jump, and Ezeigwe will each take part in this weekend's NCAA Division III Championship, which is being hosted from Thursday through Saturday by Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 1/30/07.
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