NEW LONDON, CT- The Wheaton College baseball team split a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader against host United States Coast Guard Academy to wrap up a three-game weekend series on Saturday, winning the opener by an 11-10 count before losing 3-0.
Receiving national votes in the most recent D3baseball.com poll, the Lyons, now 8-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play, had their four-game winning streak snapped. Coast Guard is 10-7 and 3-3.
In the first game, an electric eight-run third inning put the Lyons back in good standing after Coast Guard took a five-run lead in the first. Sophomore Dan Gusovsky (Andover, MA/Andover) led the frame off with a single before crossing the dish four batters later to put a run on the board for Wheaton. Classmate Sean Ryan (Norton, MA/Norton) doubled in the same inning to plate two more runs, while sophomore Justin Connor (Arlington, MA/Arlington) ended the frame's scoring with a two-run single.
Wheaton junior Dan Haugh (Andover, MA/Saint John's Prep) proved to be the difference, as he finished with four RBI on two hits, including a three-run dinger over the right field fence in the third. Haugh contributed to the winning run as well, breaking a 10-all tie in the seventh with a two-out RBI single that plated classmate Hal Landers (Salem, NH/Salem) from second.
Trailing 10-8 after four, the Lyons scored two runs on two hits and two Bear errors to knot the game in the top half of the fifth. Raad tacked on run number nine thanks to a one-out RBI single by Skelley, while Connor followed up later that inning by scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ryan.
Senior southpaw Kevin Calabro (Andover, MA/Andover) picked up the win in three innings of relief, taking over for freshman Alec Palioca (Wrentham, MA/King Philip Regional) in the fourth. Calabro struck out four and walked one while allowing just two hits. Freshman Ryan Grant (Easton, MA/Avon Old Farms School) collected his third save in as many days.
Ryan went 2-for-4 with three RBI, Gusovsky was 2-for-4, and Landers scored twice. Seniors Sean Munley (Ewing, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton), Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY/Hastings) and Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, NH/ Holderness School) had two hits apiece, with Skelley driving in two and Raad scoring a pair.
Wheaton struggled to put the bat on the ball in the second game, posting a mere four hits on the board while stranding six thanks to a complete-game shutout by Coast Guard sophomore Derek Petty (Parker, CO/New Mexico Military Academy). Petty fanned nine and walked only one as he picked up his first win of the season. For the Lyons, sophomore Justin Dickinson (Strafford, CT/Bunnell) scattered seven hits and surrendered just one earned run over 7.2 innings in the loss, striking out six along the way.
Freshman Dave Wolinski (Henrico, VA/Freeman), who went 2-for-3, scored for the Bears in the third inning with some small-ball style play, as he singled and advanced to second on an error before moving to third and coming home on two sacrifices. The Bears stretched their lead to 3-0 in the eighth with two unearned runs.
Wheaton takes on non-league foe Westfield State University at Sidell Stadium tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.