NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College baseball team completed its three-game series sweep with visiting Clark University during Wednesday's back-and-forth battle, as the Lyons prevailed by a score of 5-3 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action at Sidell Stadium.
Despite stranding 16 runners, Wheaton, which is receiving national votes in the latest D3baseball.com poll, won for the seventh time in its last eight games to improve to 11-5 overall and 5-4 in league play. The Cougars are now 11-8 and 1-5.
Junior righty Nolan Corr (Somersworth, NH/Saint Thomas Aquinas) yielded just two earned runs while scattering six hits over seven innings to collect his second win, while freshman Ryan Grant (Easton, MA/Avon Old Farms School) earned his fifth save in seven days. Sophomore Jordan Wylie (Plymouth, MA/Avon Old Farms School) tossed a shutout ninth.
Junior Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) went 3-for-4 for the Lyons, senior Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School) had two hits and a pair of walks, while junior Dan Demeo (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) drew two walks. Sophomore Eric Jensen's (Gorham, NH/Gorham) sacrifice fly in the six proved to be the game-winning RBI.
Clark junior Shawn Lamothe (Bellingham, MA/Bellingham) and freshman Nicholas Flemister (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) had two hits each, while sophomore Derek Dubois (Haverhill, MA/Saint John's Prep) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 5.1 innings.
Corr got off to a strong start, retiring his first seven batters in order before giving way to three straight singles for Clark's initial run. Corr settled in after that, inducing a groundout and infield fly to prevent further damage before setting down his first two batters in the fourth.
Wheaton squandered a golden opportunity in the first, loading the bags with one down while coming away empty, as Dubois fanned a batter before forcing an inning-ending fly ball to center. After leaving a runner in scoring position the following frame, the Lyons stranded a pair more in the third, as the hosts put two on with one down.
Wheaton finally broke through in the fifth, utilizing three hits, a couple of stolen bases, a walk and a sacrifice to push two runs across for a 2-1 edge. Haugh drove a run-scoring single into center before Munley followed with a deep sacrifice fly to the edge of the warning track.
The Cougars answered with two runs in the top of the sixth to retake a one-run lead. Lamothe had an RBI single the frame, while Clark scored the go-ahead run on an error. However, the Lyons went back in front for good thanks to a two-run home half, with Jensen and Skelley each picking up an RBI.
Wheaton returns to conference action this weekend with a three-game series against Babson College, beginning on Friday with a 3:30 p.m. game in Babson Park.