CAMBRIDGE, MA- The sixth-ranked Wheaton College baseball team strung together 26 runs and 27 hits during Saturday afternoon's 11-5 and 15-1 doubleheader sweep at New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Briggs Field.

Averaging over 10 runs and one homer through their first 17 contests, the Lyons stretched their winning streak to 15 games, which sits two shy of second place in the program's annals. Ranked sixth nationally by D3baseball.com, Wheaton improved to 16-1 overall and remained unbeaten through four league games. The Engineers fell to 8-6 and 0-2.

The Lyons received an offensive spark from the eighth and ninth hitters in their lineup, sophomore Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) and freshman Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem), who combined to go 9-for-14 with eight RBI and six runs. Raad smacked a grand slam in game one, while Landers finished with a pair of extra-base hits during the twinbill.

Raad turned in an impressive offensive showing in the opener, driving in a career-best five runs, including hitting a third-inning grand slam to break open a 5-2 game. The home run was the first of his career. Along with Landers, the tandem went 4-for-6 with six RBI and three runs. Senior hurler Adam Gingras (Woonsocket, RI/Woonsocket) won his 12th consecutive decision, improving to 4-0 on the season with eight strikeouts and two walks while yielding three earned runs on seven hits in six innings.

After the Engineers pushed two runs across in the first, the visitors took a lead they would not relinquish in the second thanks to a three-run blast off the bat of junior Jason Clucas (Peabody, MA/Saint John's Prep), who scored sophomore Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) and freshman Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep). A Haugh RBI two-bagger and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Landers extended Wheaton's lead to three before Raad drove his opposite-field homer over the right field fence for a 9-2 advantage.

Junior Paul Malaguti's (Andover, MA/Andover) solo shot in the sixth, his fourth homer of the season, marked Wheaton's third home run of the game and 17th of the spring, which matched the team's total from all of last season. In addition to Landers' and Raad's multi-hit games, Haugh went 2-for-4 with two runs, Clucas drove in three and scored twice, while Munley drew two walks.

Senior righty Louie Bernardini (Gray, ME/Gray-New Gloucester) tossed seven scoreless innings in game two to pick up his third win of the season, yielding just four hits while striking out two batters. The Lyon offense provided Bernardini with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth before their bats came alive with two runs in the seventh and a monster nine-run eighth, including a grand slam from junior Sean Buckley (Webster, MA/Bartlett), his first career dinger.

Landers and senior Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) each went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Buckley was 2-for-2 and plated five runs off the bench, while Raad batted 2-for-4 with two runs. Munley and junior Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers) recorded two hits apiece, with Munley driving in two runs, while Haugh scored four times and drew three walks.

The Lyons return home tomorrow for the first time in a week to face non-league opponent Brandeis University at 1:00 p.m.