NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – Wheaton College scored eight runs in the seventh inning to pull away for a 14-5 victory over Nichols College in a non-conference baseball matchup on Sunday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass.
The Bison (1-1) and Lyons (1-0) will meet again on Tuesday night at the Baseball Complex with first pitch scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Senior Chris Anderson went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored to lead the Nichols offense. Classmate Cam Cook went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, while sophomore Kyle Bouchard and junior Michael Carmody each added 2-for-4 days, with Carmody crossing the plate once. Sophomore Christian Naccari had his second-straight multi-hit day, going 2-for-5, with senior Nick Roy (1-for-5, RBI) and sophomore Chris Cerniglia(1-for-4) also adding hits on the day.
Senior StigErik McElhinney tossed five innings and allowed four earned runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts in the start, earning a no decision. Freshman Justin Hurley took the setback for the Bison, giving up five runs (four earned) on three hits with two walks and two punchouts in 1.1 innings of work. Senior Jackson White allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits in 0.2 innings, with Naccari giving up a pair of runs on two hits to close out the game.
Sophomore Bryant Salkind had a monster day for the Lyons, going 5-for-6 with five RBI and a pair of runs scored to lead the offense. Sophomore Nick Raposo (3-for-5, three runs, RBI), senior Matt Cook (2-for-4, two runs, two RBI), and senior Chris Ruocco (2-for-3, two RBI, run) also added multi-hit days for Wheaton.
The Bison were able to get to the Wheaton starter senior Brady Furdon as he allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings of work. However, the Lyons bullpen of senior Jimmy Gowen (W, 1.0 IP, two hits), sophomore Zach Pipa (1.0 IP, one hit, one unearned run), and freshman John Mikosz (1.0 IP, one hit) silenced the Nichols offense down the stretch.
Nichols struck first in the top of the first inning as Roy drove in Cam Cook with an RBI groundout to give the Bison a 1-0 advantage. The Lyons answered back in their half of the third as Salkind drove in Raposo with an RBI single to center to knot the game at 1-1.
Salkind struck again in the fifth with an RBI single to score Matt Cook, and junior Conor Gammond and Chris Ruocco followed with sacrifice flies later in the frame to stake the Lyons to a 4-1 lead.
Nichols chipped away at the Wheaton lead as freshman Nathaniel Cormier drove in Michael Carmody on a squeeze play to cut the deficit in half. Nichols was able to tie the game in the top of the seventh when Anderson doubled down the left field line, driving in Cam Cook to make it a 4-3 game. After Bouchard reached on a single, Christian Naccari singled to right field, scoring Anderson to knot the game at 4-4.
Unfortunately for Nichols, Wheaton would bat around in the seventh inning, plating eight runs in the frame to make it a 12-4 advantage for the Lyons. Anderson would get one back for the Bison in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to score Cormier, but the Lyons would score two more times in the eighth to give the game its final score of 14-5.
All-Time Series
Nichols and Wheaton have met five times in program history, with the Lyons holding a 4-1 advantage in the series.