HARWICH, MA- Wheaton College baseball senior Eric Laliberte's (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) two-run homer in the third and junior Corey Laliberte's (Fall River, MA/B.M.C. Durfee) eight-inning showing pushed the third-seeded Lyons to a 10-6 victory over fifth seed Rhode Island College during the third day of the NCAA England Regional Tournament on Friday at Whitehouse Field.
Standing 19th in the country by D3baseball.com and first regionally by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA), 31-11 Wheaton eliminates Rhode Island College while advancing to tonight's 8:00 p.m. game against the winner of first seed Tufts University and sixth seed Saint Joseph's College of Maine. The Anchormen finish their year at 22-20.
Corey Laliberte entered the ninth having tossed eight shutout frames of six-hit ball. He ended up being responsible for three runs, two of which were earned, with one strikeout and four walks. Junior David Longley (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) picked up his first career save, entering the game with two on and two out, as the Anchormen had the tying run on deck.
Offensively, the Lyons pounded out 14 hits, with sophomore Dan Gusovsky (Andover, MA/Andover) going 4-for-5 with two doubles. Senior Sean Munley (Ewing, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) went 3-for-4, while Eric Laliberte had two hits with three RBI and a pair of runs. Junior John Keating (Duxbury, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) was 2-for-4 with two runs and a triple, and senior Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) had two hits.
For Rhode Island College, senior Mike Giustino (Wappingers Falls, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) was 3-for-5, junior Brent Hopkins (Cranston, RI/La Salle Academy) batted 2-for-4, while sophomore David Hoey (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) suffered the loss, giving up nine runs, five earned, with three strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
After surrendering a two-out single in the first, Corey Laliberte retired seven batters in a row before giving up a leadoff base knock to begin the fourth. Wheaton put a pair of runners on with one down in the second but came away empty. The following frame, the Lyons used the long ball for the second straight game, as Eric Laliberte's second blast of the season provided Wheaton with a 2-0 edge.
The Blue and White blew the game open in the fourth, using seven hits combined with two Anchorman errors to plate six runs and take a commanding 8-0 advantage. Munley got things started with an infield single and was brought around on Gusovsky's double to right center. After a Rhode Island College error and a bunt single and miscue that made the score 4-0, Raad's infield knock placed the margin at five. Following a sacrifice bunt, Eric Laliberte's run-scoring single pushed Wheaton's lead to six, and junior Dan Haugh's (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) two-run single to right left the score at 8-0.
The Lyons scored their ninth run in the fifth, taking advantage of a third defensive miscue by the Anchormen. Wheaton tacked on another unearned run in the seventh, as Keating's three-bagger to left center quickly put a runner in scoring position. Three batters later, a fourth Anchorman error pushed the differential to 10. In the ninth, Rhode Island College made things interesting with six runs on three hits and one Lyon error. With the Anchormen down by four with two down and two men on, Longley entered the game and retired his lone batter on strikes.