WALTHAM, Mass. - The visiting Wheaton College baseball team
rallied with four runs in the eighth inning, overcoming host
Brandeis's nine-run fourth as the Lyons defeated the Judges, 12-9,
under the lights on Stein Diamond.
Wheaton (30-11) opened the
scoring quickly, two batters into the game. Rookie RF Hal Landers
(Salem, N.H./Salem) led off the game with a single up the middle.
He scored all the way from first on a double to the wall in
left-center field by senior SS Nick Pecora (Highland Park,
N.J./Immaculata).
After leaving the bases loaded in
the second, the Lyons looked to blow the game open with four more
runs in the third. The first five hitters of the inning reached
base, including two on errors. The big blow in the frame was a
two-run double by rookie 1B Dan Demeo (Glastonbury,
Conn./Glastonbury).
Brandeis (16-23), which had just
two base-runners against Wheaton starter Nick Kostaras (No.
Attleboro, Mass./No. Attleboro) in the first three innings solved
the junior righty in the fourth. The first six Judge batters
reached. Rookie LF Jon Chu (Hollis Hills, N.Y./Bronx
Science) scored on a wild pitch to open the scoring, while
sophomore Eric Rosenberg (Oakland, N.J/Indian
Hills) improved to 5-for-9 as a pinch hitter with a
two-run, bases-loaded double that cut the lead to 5-3. Senior RF
Mike Alfego (Shrewsbury, Mass./St. Johns) followed
with a bloop double to left, trimming the margin to one, 5-4.
Kostaras retired the next two
Brandeis hitters, but loaded the bases with a walk. That brought up
Chu for the second time in the inning, and he belted Brandeis's
first grand slam of the season to left-center field, giving
Brandeis an 8-5 lead. It was Chu's second homer of the season.
Junior 1B Drake Livada (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape
Elizabeth) followed with a mammoth home run blast to left
field, his fourth of the season, tying him for the team lead. That
capped the nine-run frame, Brandeis's biggest of the season.
Wheaton would not go away,
getting one run back against Judge senior James Collins
(So. Boston, Mass./BB&N) in the next half-inning on a
Brandeis error at third base. A line-drive double play kept the
Judges out of more trouble. The Lyons cut their deficit to one in
the seventh on a long home run to centerfield by rookie 3B Dan
Haugh (Andover, Mass./St. Johns).
After Collins came out of the
game to start the eighth inning, Wheaton attacked the Brandeis
bullpen. They loaded the bases with one out against sophomore
Nick Pollack (Brooklyn, N.Y./Berkeley Carroll
School), and sophomore 1B Sean Munley (Trenton, N.J./Hun
School) unloaded them with a three-run double to right-center
field. Munley came home on Haugh's second extra-base hit of the
game, another double to right-center. Rookie lefty Alex
Tynan (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) came on to get the last
out of the inning. He also wriggled out of trouble in the ninth,
loading the bases with none out in the ninth, but induced a pop-up
and another line-drive double play.
Meanwhile, the Wheaton pen held
Brandeis at bay. The trio of junior Jon Shepard (Salisbury,
Mass./Triton Reg.), senior Jared Barnes (No. Attleboro,
Mass./Bishop Feehan) and senior Josh Simmons (Cranston,
R.I./Cranston West) allowed base-runners in every inning, but held
the Judges off the board for the final 5.1 innings. Shepard earned
the win with 3.1 innings of four-hit relief, striking out two,
while Simmons struck out the side with two on in the ninth for his
ninth save.
For Brandeis, the offensive stars
were Chu, who finished 2-5 with four RBI and two runs scored, while
Livada, Alfego, junior catcher Artie Posch (Hopedale,
Mass./Hopedale) and rookie SS Julian Cavin
(Brooklyn, N.Y./Beacon School) all had two hits as well.
Collins went seven innings, giving up eight runs (five earned). He
allowed nine hits, walked four and struck out four. Pollack
suffered the loss, falling to 2-2 on the season.
Haugh and Munley were the big bats for Wheaton, combining to go
6-for-10 with six RBI and five runs scored. Landers and sophomore
2B Eric Laliberte (Nashua, N.H./Bishop Guertin) also had two hits.
Brandeis rounds out their season with a doubleheader tomorrow at
noon against Suffolk, while Wheaton travels to Division I Bryant
University tomorrow at 1 p.m.
- 30 -
