NEW LONDON, Conn. — The No. 8/9 and top-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team scored twice in the top of the 13th inning to come away with a 3-1 victory and stave off elimination against fourth-seeded Husson University this afternoon at Alumni Field on the campus of host Mitchell College in New London, Conn.
The Lyons, who are ranked eighth in the most recent D3baseball.com national poll and ninth in the Collegiate Baseball/American Baseball Coaches Association survey, improve to 39-7, while the Eagles fall to 25-19.
Wheaton advances to play third-seeded Mitchell tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. to mark the eighth time in school history that the Lyons will play in the Regional Final. Mitchell defeated Wheaton earlier today, 7-4, so the Lyons will have to beat the Mariners twice to advance to the Super Regional round.
The game marked the longest played by Wheaton in the NCAA Tournament since a 7-6 win over 16 innings against Curry College to open the 2007 NCAA Regional.
The Lyons scored a run in the top of the second and entered the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead before Husson scored a run in the frame to send the game into extra innings. Wheaton left 16 runners on base for the game and the Eagles trailed for 29 of 31 innings of the tournament, while standing on the doorstep of advancing to the tourney final.
Junior right fielder Tommy Ambrosone (Hopkinton, Mass.) led the Lyons at the plate, going 2-4 with a pair of walks, a run batted in and a run scored, while senior third baseman Nick Crotreau (Cumberland, R.I.) reached base four times, including three walks and a single and knocked in a run. Senior second baseman Mike Maher (Jefferson, Mass.) was 2-6 with a run batted in, a stolen base and a base on balls. Sophomore right-handed reliever Jackson Walsh (Cumberland, R.I.) picked up the win to improve to 5-0 after hurling three innings of one-hit shutout ball that included two walks and a strikeout. Junior starting pitcher Liam Goldthwaite (Braintree, Mass.) surrendered just one run on six hits and a walk to go with five strikeouts in nine innings and did not allow a hit through the first four and two-thirds innings of play. Senior reliever Max Pierce (Scituate, R.I.) earned his fourth save of the year after throwing a scoreless 13th inning and giving up no hits and two walks, while fanning a batter.
Junior left fielder Akira Warren (Hallowell, Maine) paced the Eagles with a 2-4 effort to go with a walk and a run batted in and graduate student center fielder Ethan Stoddard (Old Town, Maine) was 1-4 with a double. First year catcher David York (Kennebunk, Maine) reached base three times with a pair of walks and a double. Eight pitchers combined to hurl 13 innings for Husson. Junior right-hander Conner Wagstaff (Ellsworth, Maine) suffered the loss to fall to 0-4 after giving up two runs on one hit in an inning and a third to go with a strikeout.
The Lyons saw the first four batters of the 13th inning reach base, including a bases loaded walk, followed by a sacrifice fly to score their two runs. Ambrosone opened the frame with a single down the right field line, before first year pinch-hitter Marcus Ollivierre (Milton, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to put runners on field and second. Junior center fielder AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) placed his bunt attempt in the air between third base and the pitcher and was able to reach on the play to load the bases with no outs. Maher worked a walk to force in Wheaton's first run in 11 innings to give it a 2-1 edge. Croteau hit a high fly ball to right field that resulted in a sacrifice fly with Ollivierre scampering home with the third run.
Husson loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with one out, but Pierce struck out the next batter and got the final out on a comebacker to earn the save. York and first year Keegan Cyr (Bangor, Maine) were each issued walks and pushed into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt to prompt the Lyons to intentionally walk graduate student Kobe Rogerson (Brewer, Maine) to load the bases before Pierce closed it out.
Down to its last out in the game, Husson rallied for a run in the ninth to send the contest into extra innings at 1-1. Junior first baseman Jackson Curtis (Ellsworth, Maine) singled to left field to keep the Eagles alive and Stoddard followed with a double down the left field line to put both runners in scoring position with two outs. Warren hit an infield single to deep shortstop to score Curtis with the equalizer, but Stoddard took too wide of a turn around third base and senior shortstop Cavan Brady (Sheffield, Mass.), who kept the ball from going into the outfield, snapped a throw to third base to beat Stoddard back to the bag for the third out and keep it a tie game.
Wheaton broke into the scoring column with a run in the top of the second to take a 1-0 edge. The Lyons put their first two runners on base with sophomore left fielder Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) working a leadoff walk and senior catcher Robert Wirtanen (Brentwood, Mass.) getting hit by a pitch. Husson turned a double play to put itself an out away from getting out of the inning, but Ambrosone made sure that the Eagles didn't escape after lacing a single to center field to plate Matos with the game's first run.