Baseball (30-12, 9-3) Records 30th Win, Awaits Possible Postseason Tournament Bid

The nationally-ranked Wheaton College baseball team went 2-3 last week during its final run of regular season games, and the Lyons now wait until next week to learn of a possible NCAA Tournament berth. The Blue and White was ranked 15th in last week's D3baseball.com national poll and fifth in the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) regional rankings. On Tuesday, the Lyons won a slugfest with visiting Rhode Island College, 19-13 before dropping an 11-0 decision at seventh-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University on Wednesday evening. The following day, Wheaton yielded a late comeback to visiting University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, 12-9 before notching a 12-9 win at Brandeis University on Friday. The next day the Lyons traveled to Division I Bryant University, where they completed their regular season slate with a 13-3 loss. Wheaton hit the 30-win plateau for the fifth straight spring and seventh time in the program's 12-year history.

Wheaton scored the final seven runs during its last two turns at bat against Rhode Island College. In a contest where the teams combined for 32 runs on 35 hits, each team went down in order only once. Senior Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) and juniors Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers) and Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) each homered for the Lyons. Sophomore Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) finished 4-for-5 with three doubles and a school-record-tying five runs, Lieneck went 4-for-6 with four RBI, while Malaguti and sophomore Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) each plated four runs. Pecora scored three times, and freshman Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) drew three of Wheaton's 11 walks while scoring a trio of runs. Five pitchers saw action, with senior Karl Olson (Bethel, ME/Gould Academy) earning his first collegiate win in relief. Sophomore Pat Martin (Rockland, MA/Rockland) and senior Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) fired shutout eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Sophomore Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School) walked twice and scored twice, freshman Dan Demeo (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) drew two walks and had two RBI, while classmate John Keating (Duxbury, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) poked a two-run double.

At Eastern Connecticut State, which was ranked seventh in the nation and third in the region, the Lyons totaled three hits, as Munley reached base twice on a base knock and a walk.

The Lyons yielded 11 straight runs to UMass-Dartmouth during an eventual setback. Malaguti went 4-for-6 with three runs, two doubles and a home run, while freshman Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem) picked up three hits, five RBI and two steals from the leadoff spot. Haugh was 2-for-4 with two runs, Pecora notched two hits, and Demeo walked three times while scoring three runs.

Wheaton plated the final seven runs at Brandeis during its 30th victory of the season. Munley was 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI, while Haugh went 3-for-4 while driving in three runs, scoring twice and homering. Landers was 2-for-3 with two runs and a pair of walks, sophomore Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) had two hits, Demeo added two RBI, and Lieneck scored twice. A trio of relief pitchers combined to toss 5.1 shutout innings of five-hit ball, as junior Jon Shepard (Salisbury, MA/Triton Regional) earned the win with two strikeouts and four hits in 3.1 frames. Senior Jared Barnes (North Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) fired a one-hit eighth, while Simmons collected the save by fanning the side in the ninth after two Judges had reached base.

In facing a Division I opponent for the second time in program history, the Lyons fell at Bryant. Wheaton played the College of the Holy Cross in 2006. The Bulldogs were ranked fourth regionally in their division by the NEIBA. Munley hit a two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning before Malaguti followed with a run-scoring base knock. Laliberte had the Lyons' other hit and scored a run, while Munley drew a base on balls in addition to his hit.

Pecora is first at Wheaton in single-season doubles (21), tied for fourth in runs (49), ranks seventh in total bases (104) and is tied for seventh in hits (66), while Raad is second in sacrifice flies (6). Munley is fourth in RBI (53), sixth in walks (30) and tied for seventh in both doubles (15) and sac flies (4), while Lieneck is sixth in times hit by a pitch (12) and tied for sixth in sac bunts (8). Landers is tied for fifth in stolen bases (17) and tied for eighth in triples (3), while Laliberte is tied for seventh in sac flies (4) and is ninth in walks (26). Malaguti is tied for seventh in sac flies (4) and tied for ninth in both hits (65) and home runs (7), junior Jason Clucas (Peabody, MA/Saint John's Prep) is tied for eighth in sac bunts (7). Haugh is tied for ninth in home runs (7), standing one shy of the program's 10-year-old freshman record, and he is within two RBI of matching Munley's 2008 freshman mark. Simmons is fifth in saves (9) and tied for sixth in pitching appearances (21), while Shepard is tied for fourth in games pitched (22).

Lieneck is second in program history in career grand slams (3) and times hit by a pitch (30) and tied for eighth in sacrifice bunts (10), while Pecora is tied for sixth in triples (6), stands eighth in walks (55), tied for eighth in sac flies (8), is ninth in hits (183) and total bases (249) and is tied for ninth in doubles (36). Malaguti is seventh in times hit by a pitch (21) and tied for 10th in home runs (11), Clucas is tied for eighth in sacrifice bunts (10), Laliberte is tied for ninth in hit by pitches (18), and Munley is tied for ninth in walks (53). Simmons is first in pitching appearances (81) and second in saves (27), Barnes is third in games pitched (61), while senior Louie Bernardini (Gray, ME/Gray-New Gloucester) is fifth in innings (213.2), sixth in wins (17), tied for sixth in complete games (4), is eighth in strikeouts (137) and is ninth in pitching appearances (45). Classmate Brian Hughes (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) is tied for seventh in appearances (46), while senior Adam Gingras (Woonsocket, RI/Woonsocket) is tied for seventh in wins (15), sits eighth in innings pitched (168.1) and is tied for 10th in complete games (3).