AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Junior Will Haskell (Natick, Mass.) punched a bases loaded single into right center field to give the Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team a walk-off 7-6 victory over Ithaca College in 10 innings this afternoon at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Fla. as part of the RussMatt Invitational.
The Lyons win their fifth straight game to improve to 7-2 on the season, while the Bombers, who received votes in this week's D3baseball.com national poll, fall to 7-5.
Wheaton loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th with one out before scoring the winning run. Senior shortstop Cavan Brady (Sheffield, Mass.) led off the inning by lacing a single through the left side before senior catcher Robert Wirtanen (Brentwood, N.H.) was hit by a pitch. Junior Amedeo Ucci (Warwick, R.I.) was looking to put a sacrifice bunt down with a full count, but pulled his bat back in favor of ball four to load the bases. Ithaca was able to get a forceout at the plate on a ground ball to second, but the sacks remained full for Haskell. The junior stepped in from the left side and clubbed a high fastball into a vacant right-center field gap to plate Wirtanen with the winning run.
The game-winning blow capped a late comeback by the Lyons, who trailed 5-0 through the first five innings. Wheaton scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to match the total that the Bombers had put up in the top of the fifth. The Lyons scored single runs in the seventh and eighth to take a 6-5 lead, before Ithaca tied the contest in the ninth with a run to send the game into extra frames. Wheaton registered 14 hits in the game to give it 12 or more base knocks in each of its last four games and saw each of its top four hitters in the lineup collect multiple hits.
Sophomore left fielder Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) hit a pair of solo home runs for the Lyons to give him four on the year and three in two days to go with a walk, while Brady also knocked in a pair of runs and was 3-4 with his second round tripper of the season. Senior second baseman Mike Maher (Jefferson, Mass.) finished 3-5 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a run scored, while senior third baseman Nick Croteau (Cumberland, R.I.) was 2-5 with a run batted in and a run scored. Senior right-handed reliever Max Pierce (Scituate, R.I.) was credited with the win to improve to 1-0 after giving up a run on three walks (one intentional), two hits and a strikeout in two innings of work.
Graduate student center fielder Garrett Callaghan (Franklin Park, N.J.) fueled the Bombers with a solo homer and a grand slam to give him four long balls on the year and five RBI for the game. Junior left fielder Louis Fabbo (Hewitt, N.J.) was 2-6 with a double and a pair of runs scored and senior third baseman Ethan Rothstein (Demarest, N.J.) was 2-3 with an RBI and one of five Ithaca hitters with multiple hits on the afternoon. Senior righty reliever Matt Chase (Queensbury, N.Y.) was charged with the loss after allowing two runs on four hits and a walk to go with a strikeout in two and a third innings of relief.
Ithaca got on the board first when Callaghan crushed a two-out fastball over everything in right field to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead. The score remained a one-run edge before Ithaca loaded the bases in the fifth to set up Callaghan for another power trip. Rothstein opened the inning with a single to center field before sophomore second baseman Riley Brawdy (Rome, N.Y.) reached on an error and Fabbo singled up the middle to put a runner on every base. Callaghan delivered another no-doubter – this time to center field - to give Ithaca a 5-0 advantage.
Wheaton got four runs back in the bottom of the sixth with some power of its own. Maher led off the frame with an opposite field double to right field before moving to third on a wild pitch to set up a run-scoring single down the right field line from Croteau. Brady followed with a blast that landed on the other side of the left-center fence to pull the Lyons to within 5-3. Matos brought Wheaton a run closer with a solo shot to right field for his first four-bagger of the day.
The Lyons tied the game in the seventh when junior right fielder Tommy Ambrosone (Hopkinton, Mass.) beat out an infield single to first base and moved to second on a sacrifice, before Maher doubled to right center again to plate Ambrosone with the equalizer at 5-5.
Matos belted his second homer of the day with one down in the eighth to give Wheaton a 6-5 edge. Meanwhile, the Lyons bullpen had held the Bombers scoreless for three and a third innings of one-hit relief to give the Wheaton offense a chance to take the lead.
Fabbo finally solved the vaunted Lyon pen – or at least put a dent in it – when he led off the ninth by ripping a shot down the left field line that screamed by the Wheaton third baseman and into left field for a hustle double. Callaghan was intentionally walked to avoid another fly ball that could leave the yard and senior right fielder Matt Fabian (Toronto, Ont.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position. Sophomore shortstop Connor Pedersen (Commack, N.Y.) delivered a deep fly ball that Lyon center fielder AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) needed to leap to snare out of the air for the out, but Fabbo scampered home from third with the tying run.
Wheaton was unable to score in the ninth before Ithaca threatened to reclaim the lead in the top of the 10th inning. Sophomore first baseman Ryan Laubscher (Simbury, Conn.) ripped a single up the middle, before sophomore Collin Feeney (Ridgewood, N.J.) drew a walk with no outs. The runners were both moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, prompting the Lyons to intentionally walk Brawdy to load the bases with one out. The move paid off when Fabbo hit into a 5-4-3 double play with the infield playing in to end the threat and set up Haskell's heroics in the bottom of the frame.
Wheaton returns to the diamond tomorrow when they take on Benedictine (Ill.) University tomorrow at 9:45 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Park, while the Bombers play No. 11 Rowan University at 9:30 a.m. at the same complex.