2007 NCAA DIVISION III NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL TOURNAMENT - Lyons drop second game to Keene State as season comes to a close

May 19, 2007

HARWICH, MA- The top-seeded Wheaton College baseball team saw its memorable season come to a close Saturday night at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament, falling to fifth seed Keene State College, 4-1 for the second time in three days at Whitehouse Field.

Going 2-2 at the regional and falling one game shy of reaching their third straight championship round, the Lyons finished the year with the third-most wins in program history with a record of 34-13. The Owls, who improved to 32-14 overall, advance to tomorrow's final to face Little East Conference (LEC) foe Eastern Connecticut State University at 12:00 p.m. Keene State will need to defeat Eastern twice to claim its first regional title.

Wheaton senior righty Joe White (Bedford, NH/Manchester West) and Keene State senior southpaw Jon Young (Rindge, NH/Conant) each turned in solid outings for their respective teams. White fanned six and walked three with three runs, two earned, on four hits through 7.2 innings. White finished his career with a 4-4 mark this spring, while Young allowed the one earned run on two hits with seven strikeouts and four walks over seven innings. Senior Mike Cook (Dover, MA/Dover-Sherborn) earned the save after tossing two scoreless frames with three strikeouts, one walk and one hit allowed.

Following two scoreless innings, Keene State sophomore James Chevalier (Amherst, NH/Souhegan) broke the stalemate in the top of the third with a two-run homer over the left field fence, scoring himself and junior Ben Fournier (Center Harbor, NH/Moultonborough). Young set down 10 of his first 11 batters before Wheaton sophomore Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) record the Lyons' first hit with a flair single into shallow left field with two down in the fourth.

Junior Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) drew a 12-pitch walk with one down in the fifth, moved to second on a groundout to second and came around to score on senior Jeff Martin's (Marblehead, MA/Marblehead) double down the left field line, cutting Wheaton's deficit to one. The Lyons placed runners on the corners with two outs in the sixth, but the Keene first baseman came off the bag to catch a throw and make a swipe tag after a ground ball to third, which prevented the tying run from scoring.

After giving up the home run in the third, White retired 15 of his next 18 batters into the eighth, including starting an inning-ending double play in the seventh with a strikeout before the runner going to second was called out due to batter's interference. In the eighth, the Owls tacked on a pair of unearned runs to extend their advantage to 4-1, scoring the first time on an error and the second on an RBI single from freshman Beau Derek (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry). In the home half of the eighth, Wheaton put two runners on the bags with two down, but Cook forced a groundout to second to escape trouble.

Martin, Pecora and senior Travis Anthoine (Portland, ME/Portland) accounted for Wheaton's three hits on the night. Owl senior John Grainger (Keene, NH/Keene) was the game's lone multiple hitter, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 5/21/07.
Questions about this page? Use our query form.

News Headlines.

Wheaton baseball represented among collegiate summer league teams (more)

McDonough signs with Brockton Rox, becomes Wheaton's sixth professional (more)

Gingras named Wheaton's first ABCA All-America pitcher since 2002 (more)

Upcoming Schedule

7-15-Mar Sat-Sun Spring Break Trip N TBA
19-Mar Thu Rhode Island College A 3:00pm
22-Mar Sun Springfield (2) H 12:00pm