NORTON, Mass. — Senior shortstop Cavan Brady (Sheffield, Mass.) drove in four runs and broke the school record for runs batted in for a season to lead the No. 8/11 and top-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team over fourth-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9-2, this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Tournament at Sidell Stadium on the campus of host Wheaton in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons, who are ranked eighth in the most recent D3baseball.com national poll and 11th in the Collegiate Baseball/American Baseball Coaches Association survey, have won 11 of their last 12 and 19 of their last 21 games and improve to 35-6 on the season. Wheaton advances to the NEWMAC Championship game for the 20th time tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. at Sidell Stadium, and will take on number three seed Babson College, which defeated the Lyons, 9-3, earlier today. The Engineers end their season with a 16-21 record.
Brady knocked in four runs to give him 68 RBI for the season to surpass the previous Wheaton single-season standard set by Damon Whalen in 2002. Junior AJ Guindon (Coventry, R.I.) also eclipsed the season mark for runs scored with 59 to supplant Chris Denorfia's 2002 total of 58.
The Lyons scored single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead, before MIT scored a pair of runs in the fourth to knot the game at 2-2. Wheaton scored the final seven runs of the game, including six in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
Brady was 3-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored to go with his 20th multi-RBI effort of the season for the Lyons. Guindon was 1-3 with a walk and two runs scored, while senior second baseman Mike Maher (Jefferson, Mass.) turned in a 2-4 outing at the plate in addition to drawing a walk, driving in two runs and scoring twice. Sophomore first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) went 2-4 with a double, a walk, a run batted in and a run scored. Sophomore reliever Jackson Walsh (Cumberland, R.I.) picked up the win to improve to 3-0 after hurling two and a third innings of scoreless no-hit ball in addition to striking out two and walking one.
Junior first baseman Tyler Godfrey (Rowley, Mass.) led the Engineers at the plate, going 2-5 with two RBI and junior center fielder Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) reached base four times with two singles and two walks. Sophomore shortstop Reed Tubbs (Pflugerville, Texas) was 2-4 with a run scored and a pair of stolen bases. Senior left-handed starting pitcher Matt Leonard (San Antonio, Texas) took the loss to fall to 1-2 after giving up seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits and three walks to go with three strikeouts.
Junior right fielder Tommy Ambrosone (Hopkinton, Mass.) led off the seventh inning with a single to center and later scored when Brady hit a hot shot through the left side to drive in his 67th run of the season and give Wheaton the lead for good at 3-2.
The Lyons rallied for six runs in the eighth inning for their highest-scoring frame of the tournament. Leonard had pitched extremely well up until the eighth, but three straight hits and a walk chased him from the game. Wagner doubled to right center with one out, followed by a single to right from sophomore Tommy Beauregard (Salem, Mass.) to put runners on the corners. Ambrosone reached on a bunt single with Wagner racing home on the play. Guindon worked a walk to load the bases, before Maher stroked a two-run single to right to give Wheaton a 6-2 margin. Guindon scored on a wild pitch to break the Lyon record and Brady followed with a double to center to plate Maher with Wheaton's seventh run and his 68th RBI. Sophomore left fielder Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) drew a walk and senior catcher Robert Wirtanen (Brentwood, N.H.) was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Wagner was issued a free pass to force in the final run of the game.
The Lyons opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first. Maher punched a single into left field, advanced to second on a failed pickoff and went to third when senior third baseman Nick Croteau (Cumberland, R.I.) reached on an error. Brady lifted a fly ball to left field that resulted in a sacrifice fly to bring home the game's first run.
Wheaton tacked on another run in the third when Guindon singled through the left side and later scored on a two-out single to right off the bat of Brady to give the Lyons a 2-0 lead.
The Engineers put together a two-run, two-out rally in the top of the fourth to pull even at 2-2. First year right fielder Eitan Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) and Tubbs strung together consecutive singles to put runners on the corners with two outs. Tubbs stole second to put both runners in scoring position before Godfrey roped a two-run single to right field to tie the game.