NORTON, Mass. – Sophomore Dean Streich (North Kingstown, R.I.) shut down the Wheaton offense for four strong innings to buy the Corsairs time to mount a three-run comeback as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth defeated the Lyons, 5-4, at Sidell Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

The Basics 

Score: UMass Dartmouth 5, Wheaton College 4

Records: Corsairs 21-12, 8-6 LEC | Lyons 21-15, 13-4 NEWMAC 

How it Happened 

The Lyons got it going early on behind sophomore Bryant Salkind's (Rochester, Mass.) RBI single up the middle to plate senior leadoff man Matt Cook (Harwich, Mass.). UMass Dartmouth would retaliate in the top of the third off of new pitcher Brady Furdon (Natick, Mass.), as junior Erick Ramirez (Boston, Mass.) and senior Josh O'Neil (Halifax, Mass.) paired up for back-to-back doubles to the gaps. An errant pick-off throw attempt by Furdon towards second base allowed Ramirez to trot home for the equalizer. The game would not remain tied for long, however, as Wheaton's three-spot in their next chance at the dish backed by two extra-base hits and two errors would allow the hosts a 4-1 advantage.

Senior Kenny Michael (Norwood, Mass.) piggy-backed junior Pat Vartanian's (Canton, Mass.) double with one of his own, scoring the first of what would be four unanswered for the Corsairs to pilot the visitors' comeback. O'Neil made it a one-run ballgame with a one-out poke to plate Michael, pushing the score to 4-3.

In the seventh, the Blue and Gold strung together a trio of positive results via back-to-back singles by Ramirez and O'Neil, respectively, followed by a Tellier walk. With the bases juiced, lefty Chris Wood (Berkley, Mass.) was plunked to wear an RBI that allowed the game-tying run to score. Sophomore Mitch Baker (Braintree, Mass.) plated the go-ahead score with a sac fly to center, completing the Corsair comeback as the squad sat atop, 5-4.

Streich bridged the gap from the early-going to the ninth, tossing four brilliant shutout innings on 54 pitches, locating 36 for strikes, yielding just a pair of hits.

In the ninth, hard-throwing freshman Logan Maitland (Tiverton, R.I.) made use of 18 tosses to work a scoreless final frame to earn his fifth save.

Inside the Numbers

• O'Neil went 3-for-4 at the dish, encoring his perfect four-hit game two performance. The senior has scored a run in each of the past four games and seven of the past eight.
• Corsair pitchers stranded 10 Lyons on base.
• Junior Jose Vasquez (Roxbury, Mass.) extends his hit-streak to 11 games.
• Ramirez picked up his second multi-hit game in as many contests, and has logged a hit plus scored a run in six of his past seven outings.

Up Next 

The Blue and Gold return home to host Tufts University tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. The non-conference clash will be the squad's final regular season home affair.