De La Cruz goes 2-for-2 with a home run and 2 RBI
GORHAM, Maine – The Wheaton College baseball team, ranked No. 23 in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 national poll, fell to No. 8 ranked Southern Maine by a 12-3 score on Sunday evening in non-conference action at USM Baseball Stadium.
Southern Maine sophomore Dan Kinnon (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) earned his first win of the season on 2 2/3 innings pitched, two hits, zero runs, one walk and three strikeouts.
Wheaton senior starter Alec Palioca (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip Regional) took the loss on 5 2/3 innings, nine hits, eight runs (three earned), two walks and four strikeouts. Freshman Kyle Kasprzyk (East Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) tossed a scoreless eighth with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 advantage receiving an RBI double from junior Jake Glauser (Goffstown, N.H./Goffstown), a two-run double by freshman Paul McDonough (Wells, Maine/Wells) and a run-producing single to left field from senior John Carey (South Portland, Maine/South Portland).
Lyons' junior first baseman Apolinar De La Cruz (Providence, R.I./Classical) answered for the guests with a sac fly to left field in third to cut into the deficit at 4-1. Classmate Zach Bombard (Belchertown, Mass./Cathedral) generated the offense in the frame with a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a single by sophomore Matt Lavanchy (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) and moved over to third on a wild pitch.
Southern Maine opened up the contest with an eight-run frame in the sixth to increase its lead to 12-1. Senior Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough) highlighted the inning with a two-run double to right-center, while Glauser capped the scoring by knocking in two runs with a base hit through the left side of the infield. The Huskies produced their eight runs in the inning on seven hits, three errors and two runners left on base.
De La Cruz added his team-leading third home run of the season, a solo shot to right field in the eighth, and junior Zach Horton (North Attleboro, Mass./North Attleboro) registered an RBI ground out to short plating sophomore Mike Beneduce (North Kingstown, R.I./Moses Brown School) for the final score.
After De La Cruz's homer, Beneduce notched a single up the middle and sophomore Justin Silvestro (Waltham, Mass./BC High) worked a before senior Kevin Foley (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug) moved both runners over on a ground out to second to set up Wheaton's last run of the game.
The Lyons (22-8-1, 11-2 NEWMAC) hosts Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday, April 15 at Sidell Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Southern Maine (19-6) travels to UMass Boston tomorrow for a non-conference game at 4 p.m.
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