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Wheaton Suffers First Loss with 6-2 Setback to 40-0 Trinity
May 16, 2008
Press Release posted by Wheaton (Mass.) Permalink
HARWICH, MA- The second-seeded Wheaton College baseball team ran into undefeated Trinity College in the third round of the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament Friday afternoon, as the Lyons suffered a 6-2 setback to the top-seeded Bantams at Whitehouse Field.
Wheaton will face the winner of Saturday's first game between number-four University of Southern Maine and fifth seed Western New England College at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. The Huskies and Golden Bears, who were supposed to play tonight, are pushed back to tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. due to inclement weather.
Ranked 11th nationally according to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), the Lyons fall to 34-9, while number-two Trinity College matched Marietta College's Division III record for consecutive wins and remained unbeaten at 40-0. The Bantams advance to Sunday's championship round at 12:00 p.m.
Despite surrendering a run in each of the first two innings, the Blue and White prevented further damage by leaving four Trinity players on base through the opening two frames. Junior right fielder Robert Foote (Walpole, MA/Walpole) made an outstanding diving catch to rob the Bantams of additional runs in the first, while senior third baseman Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) helped end Trinity's threat in the second.
Foote was Wheaton's lone base runner through the first three frames before the Lyons broke through in the fourth. Sophomore Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) led off with a single to right, moved to second on senior Jake Yagjian's (Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional) base knock and advanced to third on Guillerault's sacrifice while scoring on the same play thanks to a Bantam miscue. Wheaton knotted things up in the sixth, with Yagjian plating senior Ken Depasse (Holden, MA/Saint John's), who began the frame with a single and moved to third on Malaguti's double.
The tie proved to be short-lived, as the Bantams came back with three runs on five hits in the home half of the sixth, all with two outs. The Lyons put their leadoff runners on base in each the seventh and eighth innings but came away empty. In the seventh, Foote singled before getting erased on an unconventional unassisted double play by the second baseman. Wheaton jammed the bags in the eighth with just one down, but Trinity turned its fourth double play of the game to escape the inning unscathed. The Bantams tacked on an insurance run in the eighth.
Depasse and Malaguti each had two hits and one run for the Lyons, with Depasse going 2-for-3 and Malaguti 2-for-4. Freshman Kevin Calabro (Andover, MA/Andover), who relieved sophomore starter Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro) in the third, was saddled with the loss after allowing three earned runs on three hits in 3.2 innings.
All but one of Trinity's starters had at least one hit, with seniors Chandler Barnard (Lubbock, TX/Lubbock), Thomas DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, FL/Canterbury School) and Matt Stafford (Plymouth, MA/Plymouth North) and sophomore Jack Abbott (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) notching two hits apiece. Sophomore righty Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, MA/Deerfield Academy) yielded one earned run in a complete-game effort while scattering seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
Wheaton will face the winner of Saturday's first game between number-four University of Southern Maine and fifth seed Western New England College at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. The Huskies and Golden Bears, who were supposed to play tonight, are pushed back to tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. due to inclement weather.
Ranked 11th nationally according to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), the Lyons fall to 34-9, while number-two Trinity College matched Marietta College's Division III record for consecutive wins and remained unbeaten at 40-0. The Bantams advance to Sunday's championship round at 12:00 p.m.
Despite surrendering a run in each of the first two innings, the Blue and White prevented further damage by leaving four Trinity players on base through the opening two frames. Junior right fielder Robert Foote (Walpole, MA/Walpole) made an outstanding diving catch to rob the Bantams of additional runs in the first, while senior third baseman Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) helped end Trinity's threat in the second.
Foote was Wheaton's lone base runner through the first three frames before the Lyons broke through in the fourth. Sophomore Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) led off with a single to right, moved to second on senior Jake Yagjian's (Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional) base knock and advanced to third on Guillerault's sacrifice while scoring on the same play thanks to a Bantam miscue. Wheaton knotted things up in the sixth, with Yagjian plating senior Ken Depasse (Holden, MA/Saint John's), who began the frame with a single and moved to third on Malaguti's double.
The tie proved to be short-lived, as the Bantams came back with three runs on five hits in the home half of the sixth, all with two outs. The Lyons put their leadoff runners on base in each the seventh and eighth innings but came away empty. In the seventh, Foote singled before getting erased on an unconventional unassisted double play by the second baseman. Wheaton jammed the bags in the eighth with just one down, but Trinity turned its fourth double play of the game to escape the inning unscathed. The Bantams tacked on an insurance run in the eighth.
Depasse and Malaguti each had two hits and one run for the Lyons, with Depasse going 2-for-3 and Malaguti 2-for-4. Freshman Kevin Calabro (Andover, MA/Andover), who relieved sophomore starter Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro) in the third, was saddled with the loss after allowing three earned runs on three hits in 3.2 innings.
All but one of Trinity's starters had at least one hit, with seniors Chandler Barnard (Lubbock, TX/Lubbock), Thomas DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, FL/Canterbury School) and Matt Stafford (Plymouth, MA/Plymouth North) and sophomore Jack Abbott (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) notching two hits apiece. Sophomore righty Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, MA/Deerfield Academy) yielded one earned run in a complete-game effort while scattering seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk.