Weekly Lyon

Baseball (34-13, 9-3) Completes Season with Seventh NCAA Tournament Appearance

The Wheaton College baseball team capped the 2007 season with its seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament, going 2-2 after winning a regular season game earlier in the week. The Lyons downed visiting Suffolk University, 8-3 on Monday before the top-seeded Blue and White opened NCAA play with a 7-6 victory against number four Curry College in 16 innings on Wednesday. Wheaton fell to fifth-seeded Keene State College, 6-3 on Thursday before rebounding with a 7-1 win against number three Williams College on Saturday. Later in the evening, the Lyons' season came to an end with a 4-1 loss at the hands of Keene State. For Wheaton, which is ranked sixth nationally and first in New England by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), 34 wins were the third most in program history.

Senior Travis Anthoine (Portland, ME/Portland) drew a tiebreaking bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning to spark a three-run frame as Wheaton knocked off Suffolk. Senior Jeff Martin (Marblehead, MA/Marblehead), junior Jake Yagjian (Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional) and freshman Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) had two hits apiece. Sophomore Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) picked up the win in relief as the fourth of eight Wheaton pitchers. The final six hurlers held the Rams scoreless on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 3.1 innings.

Wheaton and Curry tied an NCAA Division III Tournament record by playing 16 innings, as junior Scott Guillerault's (South Portland, ME/South Portland) walk-off single with one out plated classmate Ken Depasse (Holden, MA/Saint John's). Only two other 16-inning games had occurred in NCAA Tournament play, in 1987 and 2005. Five Lyon pitchers combined to fan 19 batters, tying the NCAA Tournament record set in 2001, as the final four held the Colonels hitless and scoreless over the last 8.1 innings. Simmons, junior Keith Pescosolido (Newton, MA/Newton North), sophomore Brian Hughes (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) and freshman Pat Martin (Rockland, MA/Rockland) each came out of the bullpen, combining for 11 strikeouts and three walks. Simmons fanned seven in the last four innings to earn the win. Senior Brandon Leonard (Brockton, MA/Brockton) finished 3-for-8, as his eight at bats matched an NCAA Tournament single-game record. Senior Adam Laplante (Harwich, MA/Harwich) added two hits and 19 putouts while catching all 16 innings, and Guillerault had two hits and two RBI. Anthoine, Depasse and sophomores Robert Foote (Walpole, MA/Walpole) and Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) also contributed two knocks apiece.

The Lyons fell into the loser's bracket with a loss to Keene State. Pecora went 4-for-5, while Laplante doubled twice in helping Wheaton cut a six-run deficit in half by the seventh inning. Laplante also drove in two runs, while Foote and Yagjian had two hits each. Hughes tossed 3.2 innings of two-hit ball in relief of junior Louie Bernardini (Gray, ME/Gray-New Gloucester), who suffered his first loss in eight decisions this season and had not lost in his previous 12 games.

Junior southpaw Josh Moore (Manchester, NH/Manchester Memorial) fanned 16 batters, breaking the program's nine-year-old single-game strikeouts mark of 13, to lead Wheaton past Williams. Moore also won for the eighth time in 2007, tying a school record he already shared with four others. He did not walk a batter and yielded just one run on five singles. The Lyons' first five runs came via the longball, as Laplante jacked a two-run homer in the first, Guillerault hit a solo shot in the second, and Anthoine slugged a two-run dinger in the fifth. Foote and Guillerault added RBIs in the eighth inning. Laplante finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Anthoine was 3-for-5 with two runs. Guillerault added two hits and two RBI.

In their second contest against Keene State in three days, the Lyons came up short. Senior Joe White (Bedford, NH/Manchester West) turned in a stellar effort in his final game, fanning six and walking three while allowing two earned runs on four hits in 7.2 innings. He set down 15 of 18 batters at one point. Jeff Martin drove home Wheaton's lone run, plating Guillerault with two down in the fifth. Following the weekend's final game, Laplante and Moore were named to the all-tournament team.

A trio of Lyons whose careers came to an end rank high among the program's all-time leaders. Anthoine is first in sacrifice bunts (26) and tied for sixth in triples (6), while Laplante is first in putouts (863), seventh in slugging (.498), eighth in home runs (14) and batting average (.316), ninth in triples (5) and on-base percentage (.399) and tied for 10th in walks (52). Leonard had one of the most successful careers in Wheaton history, as his appearance in 168 games is one shy of the program record. He also finished first in times hit by a pitch (29), second in sacrifice bunts (22), tied for second in steals (59), third in assists (418), fourth in runs (143), triples (9) and walks (70), sixth in hits (196), eighth in on-base percentage (.401), ninth in batting average (.313) and RBI (103), and tied for 10th in doubles (32).

A handful of juniors are ranked in the top 10 in career categories in program history heading into their final collegiate campaign. Guillerault is second in home runs (23) and walks (91), third in RBI (134), tied for seventh in doubles (37), eighth in runs (113) and 10th in hits (157), while Yagjian is tied for seventh in bases on balls (53). Among hurlers, Moore is tied for third in wins (20), Chris McDonough (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) is one shy of the strikeouts record with 178 and is fifth in victories (16), while Bernardini is tied for eighth in wins (14).

Payman Becomes First Wheaton Men's Tennis All-American Following Win at NCAAs

Wheaton College men's tennis senior Payum Payman (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington) became the first player in the program's 18-year history to compete in an NCAA Division III Championship on Friday, winning his opening match before bowing out in the second round at Washington University in St. Louis. The victory elevated him to Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-America status, making him the first tennis player of either gender in Wheaton history to reach that level.

In the first round, Payman dropped the first set before twice rallying from two games down to corral a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory against a Johns Hopkins University foe. Payman trailed 4-2 in the second set before winning the final four games to force a deciding set. Down by a 3-1 count, Payman won the final five games to rally for the first victory by a Lyon in NCAA Championship play. During Payman's second match of the day, he dropped a 6-2, 7-5 second-round decision against a Gustavus Adolphus College opponent who was ranked fifth in the nation. Payman fell behind 3-0 in the second set before battling all the way back to lead 5-4. The seventh-ranked player in the Northeast, Payman finished the season 20-6 and his college career 120-51 record between singles and doubles action.

Men's and Women's Track and Field Athletes Reach Four NCAA Provisional Standards

The Wheaton College men's and women's outdoor track and field teams' athletes met four provisional standards for the NCAA Championship on Friday during the Last Chance Qualifier at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Senior All-American Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) played a hand in three of the national meet standards.

Harlow, who already automatically qualified for the NCAAs in the high jump, tied for first in that event with a height of 5' 5 1/4", which exceeded a provisional mark. In the 100-meter hurdles, Harlow finished third in a time of 14.77, a season-best performance that met an NCAA standard and was just 0.06 seconds shy of matching the top finisher. During the 4x100M relay, Harlow joined sophomores Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) and Samira Sanders (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) and freshman Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) to win in an NCAA provisional time of 48.43. Ezeigwe paced a seven-runner 400M field, winning with a provisional mark of 57.31. It was just the second time she ran the event this spring, and the first occasion since March 17. Thompson was the runner up, while sophomore Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton) was third in the 400M hurdles. The only male Lyon competing was freshman Howard Powell (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls), who placed second in the 110M hurdles.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 2/8/08.
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