Lyons play to fifth tie in program history
NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College baseball team, ranked No. 12 in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, played to a 5-5 tie against Suffolk University on Friday evening at Sidell Stadium. The contest was called after the completion of the 12th inning due to darkness. Today's game marks the fifth tie in program history for the Lyons in 712 games played since 1998.
Wheaton senior Nick Filloramo (Rochester, Mass./Old Rochester Regional) went four innings, yielded two runs (one earned), two walks and struck out one batter in his third start of the season. Junior Mike Gibbons (Simsbury, Conn./Avon Old Farms) completed four frames, allowed three hits and two runs (one earned). In relief, freshman Kyle Kasprzyk (East Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) and junior Mike Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H./Goffstown) recorded one scoreless inning apiece from the pen.
Suffolk left-handed junior starter Josh Desai (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) let up five runs (four earned), five walks and seven hits over five innings of work to go along with four strikeouts. Mike Masulli (Prospect, Conn./Woodland Regional), Paul Pollano (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) and Mark Fusco (Medford, Mass./Arlington Catholic) combined to throw seven shutout innings out of the bullpen for the Rams. Fusco logged the bulk of the work on four innings, one hit, a walk and a strikeout.
Trailing 1-0 after the first, the Lyons put up three runs in the second on three-straight bases loaded walks by sophomore Jimmy Smith (Worcester, Mass./Saint John's), junior Tyler Contillo (Montville, Conn./Montville) and classmate Justin Peluso (North Reading, Mass./Saint John's Prep).
Suffolk made it a 3-2 contest in the fourth as junior Justin Knight (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) notched an RBI single to right field scoring JC Collette (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) from second base. Collette led off the inning with a single down the left field line and advanced a base on a groundout to third before scoring.
Lyons' sophomore Brett Fontaine (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) added an RBI infield single in Wheaton's two-run fifth, but the guests responded with a pair of runs in the sixth to keep the score within one run at 5-4.
The Rams forced extra innings in the ninth as senior Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass./Catholic Memorial) brought home freshman Luke Ronchi (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) with fielder's choice RBI.
In the bottom of the ninth, Wheaton threatened with runners on first and second with one out but did not push across the game-winning run, while Suffolk had a similar situation in the tenth with no outs turning in the same result.
Wheaton (7-3-1) hosts WPI tomorrow for a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader with game one scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Suffolk (3-6-1) visits Rhode Island College tomorrow for a twinbill at noon.
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