Gusovsky Grand Slam Helps Wheaton Turn Back Husson in NCAA Elimination Game

More news about: Wheaton (Mass.)

HARWICH, MA- Wheaton College baseball sophomore Dan Gusovsky (Andover, MA/Andover) launched the first grand slam of his young career on Thursday afternoon, single-handedly turning a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 advantage with his seventh-inning blast in helping the third-seeded Lyons stave off elimination during his team's 8-4 win over seventh seed Husson University in the second round of the NCAA New England Regional Tournament at Whitehouse Field.

Wheaton, which is ranked 19th nationally by D3baseball.com and first by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA), snapped a three-game losing skid to improve to 30-11.  The Blue and White will face the winner of today's next game between fifth seed Rhode Island College and number-eight Bridgewater State University tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.  Husson finished its season at 29-17.

Gusovsky finished 2-for-5 as one of seven multiple hitters.  Senior Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) was 3-for-4, while classmates Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) and Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings), junior Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem), sophomore Eric Jensen (Gorham, NH/Gorham) and freshman Mike Bisceglia (New Boston, NH/Goffstown) had two hits each.  Senior Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/Holderness School), who smacked a double, stretched his hitting streak to 17 games.

Junior Nolan Corr (Somersworth, NH/Saint Thomas Aquinas) earned his seventh win of the season, yielding three earned runs with a season-high six strikeouts and one walk in 6.1 innings of work.  Senior Kevin Calabro (Andover, MA/Andover) tossed 1.1 shutout frames, while freshman closer Ryan Grant (Easton, MA/Avon Old Farms School) picked up his 10th save of the season after firing 1.1 scoreless innings.  His 10 saves are tied for third in school annals.

Three Husson players finished with two hits apiece, while junior Nate Adams (Frankfort, ME/Searsport) was saddled with the loss, yielding five earned runs on 14 hits with one strikeout and two walks in 6.1 innings.

After the Lyons put two runners in scoring position to lead off the first, as Landers singled and stole second before Laliberte ripped a base knock up the middle, Husson averted further damage by taking a ground ball to third and firing to second for one out before getting Landers out following a rundown between third and home.  In the home half, Husson plated three runs on two hits while also capitalizing on a Wheaton error.

After running into trouble in the first, Corr retired his final three batters of that frame while setting down the sides in order in both the second and third innings.  The Eagles tacked on their fourth run in the fourth, using a single, a steal and an RBI double to take a 4-0 advantage.  Wheaton got that run back in the top half of the fifth, when Laliberte sent an RBI single back through the box to narrow the deficit to three.  The Lyons struggled to produce a timely hit, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth frames.

Jamming the bags for a third straight inning with nobody out in the seventh, Wheaton cashed in on Munley's one-out single to center to make the score 4-2, setting up Gusovsky's late-game heroics.  Gusovsky changed the complexion of the game in driving his ball just inside the left field foul pole while chasing Adams.  After a couple of hit batsmen and a wild pitch, the Lyons pushed across their seventh run on a sacrifice fly.

In the ninth, Wheaton tacked on an insurance run, as Bisceglia doubled to open the frame.  Two batters later, Raad doubled home Bisceglia.  After surrendering two singles in the bottom of the ninth, Grant induced a game-ending double play, as Haugh tagged third before firing over to first to close out the game.