Lyons now 7-5 on the season
NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College baseball team, ranked No. 12 in the latest D3baseball.com, national poll dropped a pair of games to WPI on Saturday afternoon at Sidell Stadium by scores of 3-2 and 7-3 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) season openers for both squads.
WPI 3, WHEATON 2
Engineers' freshman righty Aidan Freeburg (Billerica, Mass./Arlington Catholic) earned his second collegiate victory on six innings pitched, four hits, zero runs and four walks. Classmate Dan Bettigole (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) completed the rest of the contest for to pick up a three-inning save alongside two unearned runs and one strikeout.
Senior Alec Palioca (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip Regional) was dealt the loss on six innings pitched, ten hits, three runs (all earned), zero walks and a game-high five strikeouts. Junior Mike Bisceglia (New Boston, N.H./Goffstown) and sophomore Jared Clement (Wrentham, Mass./Saint Sebastian's) combined for three scoreless innings out of the pen.
Knotted at 0-0 through the first six innings of play, WPI struck for all three of its runs in the seventh as sophomore Vinny D'Ambrosio (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) notched a two-run triple down the right field line and classmate Alex Venditti (Newton, Mass./St. Sebastian's) connected for an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Sophomore Matt Lavanchy (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) lifted a sacrifice fly to right field and junior Apolinar De La Cruz (Providence, R.I./Classical) drove in a run with an RBI, but the Lyons' comeback efforts fell just short in the ninth with the tying run in scoring position at second base.
WPI 7, WHEATON 3
Junior Taylor Landry (Kennebunk, Maine/Kennebunk) scattered six hits over seven innings of while allowing two runs (one earned), two walks and struck out three batters to improve to 4-2 on the season for the Engineers.
Wheaton freshman Michael Bruemmel (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) took the loss on 4 2/3 innings, six hits, three runs (all earned), four walks and four punchouts.
WPI jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two full innings receiving a run-producing single and bases loaded walk in the first and sacrifice fly from Venditti in the second.
The Lyons cut away at its deficit with solo runs in the fourth and the seventh to make it a 3-2 contest. Sophomore Brett Fontaine (Newburport, Mass./Newburyport) scored on a passed ball in the fourth, while junior Justin Peluso (North Reading, Mass./Saint John's Prep) delivered an infield RBI three innings later.
WPI answered with a four-spot in the eighth as Venditti collected his third RBI of the afternoon with a single to right to get the offense going. Junior Zach Blanchard (Warwick, R.I./Pilgrim) launched a sacrifice fly to center field, senior Brendan Walsh (Windham, N.H./Central Catholic) drove home a run with a base knock to right and David Trujillo (Sutton, Mass./St. John's) scratched in the final run on a fielder's choice.
Peluso picked up his second RBI of the game with a groundout to second in the ninth before the Engineers worked a ground ball to short to complete the sweep.
Wheaton (7-5, 0-2 NEWMAC) hosts Clark University for a NEWMAC clash on Tuesday, March 25 at 3:30 p.m. WPI (9-5, 2-0) travels to Emerson on Tuesday for a conference matchup at 6:30 p.m.
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