Lyons remain perfect in NEWMAC following 7-4 road victory at WPI

April 3, 2008

WORCESTER, MA- Freshman designated hitter Sean Munley (Trenton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) smacked three doubles among his four hits and plated three runs, including on the game-winning double that snapped a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning, as the Wheaton College baseball team remained unbeaten in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) with a 7-4 victory Thursday afternoon at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) Class of 1893 Field.

Running their winning streak to 14 games while improving their overall record to 16-4 and NEWMAC mark to 5-0, the Lyons entered today's action ranked 18th nationally in the most recent American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll. The Engineers slipped below the .500 mark at 10-11 and 2-3.

Junior closer Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) earned his second save in as many days, third in the last six days and fourth of the season, as the righthander extended his strikeout streak to eight consecutive batters in the ninth. Simmons relieved senior winning pitcher Keith Pescosolido (Newton, MA/Newton North), who fired 2.1 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts, with two on and two down in the eighth before fanning the side in the ninth. Simmons' last nine outs have come via strikeouts.

Munley's three doubles in the fifth, seventh and ninth fell one two-bagger short of current Oakland Athletics outfielder Chris Denorfia's '02 school-record four set in 1999. Munley was one of five multiple hitters, as seven Wheaton starters had at least one base knock. Senior Jake Yagjian (Brewster, MA/Nauset Regional), junior Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata), sophomore Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers) and freshman Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH/Bishop Guertin) all had two hits.

The Lyons handed WPI junior ace Conor Fahey (Cumberland, RI/Cumberland) his first loss in six decisions, as Fahey and the Engineers ran into trouble early. Wheaton pushed four two-out runs across on four hits and two WPI miscues in the first. Munley and Pecora each punched in runs, Munley scored on an error and senior Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) came around on a wild pitch.

The hosts slowly chipped away at their deficit, scoring two runs in the second on an double from sophomore Scott MacDonald (Gorham, ME/Gorham), one in the fifth and another in the sixth to knot the score. Guillerault began a one-out rally in the seventh by drawing a walk and scored from first on Munley's double down the right field line. Wheaton added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth on RBI hits from Munley and junior Robert Foote (Walpole, MA/Walpole).

After Simmons struck out his first two batters in the ninth, sophomore Cody McGregor (Westfield, MA/Avon Old Farms) singled to center, but Simmons bounced right back to fan the final batter on an 0-2 count to end the game. Sophomore starter Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro) had a no-decision after allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and one walk in 5.1-plus frames.

Fahey's outing lasted seven innings, as he surrendered five runs, three earned, and 10 hits while fanning four Wheaton batters and walking five. MacDonald and McGregor each went 2-for-4, with MacDonald driving in two runs and McGregor scoring one.

The Lyons return to non-conference play tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Bristol, Rhode Island, to take on Roger Williams University at 3:30 p.m.

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