AUBURNDALE, FL- The Wheaton College baseball team began defense of its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championship on a down note Saturday afternoon with a pair of losses to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to open the league slate, as the Lyons lost 1-0 and 5-3 at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.
Wheaton, which is ranked 18th in the country by D3baseball.com, had its three-game winning streak snapped to fall to 4-3, while the Engineers won their fifth straight to move to 5-1.
A fourth-inning unearned run proved to be the difference in the opener, as the game featured a pitcher's duel between Wheaton freshman Alec Palioca (Wrentham, MA/King Philip Regional) and MIT sophomore Aric Dama (Winfield, IL/Wheaton North). Palioca allowed five hits with two strikeouts and two walks in a complete-game effort, while Dama yielded five hits, fanned four batters and walked three in six innings. Senior Cameron Brown (Lakewood, IL/Wheat Ridge) picked up the save.
Lyon senior Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School) went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles. Engineer senior Brian Doyle (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton) added two hits, while sophomore Ricardo Perez (Vienna, VA/James Madison) drove in the lone run. Wheaton had a chance to tie the game in the seventh when Skelley doubled with one down. However, he didn't advance beyond second, as a liner to center field and a groundout to second ended the game.
After stranding seven runners in game one, the Lyons left 12 runners on base in the second contest. Senior Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) and junior Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem) posted two hits apiece, while Landers, senior Sean Munley (Ewing, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) and junior Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) each drove in a run. Sophomore righty Justin Dickinson (Stratford, CT/Bunnell) was saddled with the loss, striking out four and walking two while surrendering four earned runs on seven hits in five innings.
For the Engineers, junior A.J. Hansborough (Deltona, Fl/Deltona) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run, senior Ryne Barry (Phoenix, AZ/Thunderbird) was 2-for-3, junior Bryan Macomber (Los Altos, CA/Los Altos) plated a pair of runs, and freshman Jonathan Rea (Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn) scored twice. Sophomore Max Ockner (Chesterfield, MO/Parkway Central) had six strikeouts and three walks while giving up two earned runs and scattering six hits in 5.2 frames. Classmate Henry Zhu (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) collected the save.
Wheaton took an early 2-0 run with two runs on two hits in the first inning but didn't score again until the eighth, while the Engineers pushed across a run in each the second through sixth frames for a 5-2 advantage. The Lyons stranded two runners in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings.
Wheaton had a golden opportunity in the eighth, as a two-out rally resulted in a run and a bases-loaded situation, but Zhu entered the game and retired his only batter by inducing a fly out to thwart the threat. MIT jammed the bags in the home half with one out before striking out and grounding out to short to end the frame.
The Lyons complete their three-game season series against the Engineers tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. at Chain of Lakes Park.