PHOENIX, AZ- The 23rd-ranked Wheaton College baseball team continued its winning ways on Friday with a 10-6 victory over number-five Johns Hopkins University, as the Lyons jumped out to a 7-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning before holding on for their fifth straight triumph.

Winning for the third consecutive time against Hopkins, Wheaton raised its record to 6-1, while the Blue Jays, who finished 2008 as the national runner up, dropped to 1-2.

The Lyon offense set the tone early, working Hopkins senior Chez Angeloni (Jenkintown, PA/La Salle College) from the outset before chasing him after just three innings. Angeloni was 9-0 last year while being named most outstanding player of the College World Series. Wheaton put up single runs in each of the first three innings while sending 18 batters to the plate. Freshman Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) accounted for two of the runs, including launching a 400-plus-foot shot over the batter's eye in dead center that gave the Lyons a 3-0 edge.

Wheaton senior hurler Adam Gingras (Woonsocket, RI/Woonsocket), who was named a preseason All-American by D3baseball.com, won his 10th consecutive decision dating back to last spring. He retired five of his first six batters en route to subduing the Blue Jay offense, as the righty limited Hopkins to one run and four hits through five frames. With the Lyons jamming the bags in the fifth with one down, junior Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) scored on a wild pitch before sophomore Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) plated two with a two-out single up the middle.

A Haugh sac fly to center in the sixth pushed Wheaton to a six-run advantage before the Blue Jays began to chip away. Hopkins scored twice in the sixth and brought around three others in the eighth to get within 7-6, but senior hurler Karl Olson (Bethel, ME/Gould Academy) limited the damage with a solid relief appearance, sandwiching a pair of strikeouts around a fly out to left to preserve the lead.

The Lyons answered with three runs on four hits in the ninth to create some breathing room, with sophomore Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) smacking a clutch two-run single up the middle for a 9-6 Wheaton lead. Laliberte's two-out sacrifice fly to center provided an insurance run, and senior closer Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) did the rest. After issuing a walk to begin the ninth, Simmons induced a grounder to second for a 4-6-3 double play. Two batters later, Simmons forced a fly ball to left to close things out.

Gingras' victory included four strikeouts and one walk in seven innings of work, allowing three earned runs on seven hits. Wheaton turned in five multiple-hit performances, with Haugh and Laliberte each driving in three with two hits. Junior Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers) went 4-for-5 with a double, Malaguti was 3-for-4 with two runs, while Raad batted 2-for-5 with two RBI and a stolen base. Freshman Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem) scored twice and swiped a bag, and senior Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) drew two walks while adding a hit and a run.

The Lyons are back in action tomorrow against Western New England College at 12:00 p.m.