Wheaton Wins 10th Straight, Downs #5 Southern Maine 9-5

            NORTON, Mass. -- Rookie Joshua LaJoie's (Somers, Conn./Avon Old Farms) single through the right side of the infield snapped a 5-5 tie as the Wheaton College Lyons rallied to post a 9-5 victory over the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies in a re-scheduled non-conference game Sunday afternoon at Sidell Stadium.

            The win was the 10th straight for the Lyons and improved their record to 18-6-1 overall.  The fifth-ranked Huskies dipped to 14-6.  The two teams are scheduled to meet again next Sunday (1:00 p.m.) at USM.

            Southern Maine rallied for three runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead.  Senior Forrest Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) slammed a two-run triple to right field driving in junior Jake Glauser (Goffstown, N.H.) and senior John Carey (South Portland, Maine) to tie the game and chasing Wheaton rookie starting pitcher Jack Fant (Independence, Va.) from the hill.  Senior Matt Verrier (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) greeted sophomore reliever Jared Clement (Wrentham, Mass./St. Sebastian's) with a single to bring home Chadwick and give the Huskies the lead.

            In the sixth, junior pinch-hitter Mike Beneduce (North Kingstown, R.I./Moses Brown School) reached on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on senior Kevin Foley's (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug) followed with a single.  Foley took second on a ground out, stole third and scored when LaJoie grounded a single through the right side.  LaJoie stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error.  Junior Zach Bombard (Belchertown, Mass./Cathedral) singled to right to bring LaJoie home.

            Wheaton added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh on Foley's RBI single and a pair of Huskies' errors.

            Southern Maine opened the game scoring twice in the first inning on Chadwick's RBI single and a Verrier sacrifice fly.

            The Lyons came back with four runs in the second inning on a pair of two-run singles by LaJoie and junior Justin Peluso (North Reading, Mass./St. John's Prep).

            Carey led the Huskies offense with a double, two singles and two runs scored.  Chadwick had a triple, single and three RBI.  Senior left-hander Logan Carman (Exeter, N.H.), making his first appearance of the season, faced two batters and was tagged with the loss.

            Foley led the Lyons 16-single attack with four hits. Sophomore Justin Silvestro (Waltham, Mass./BC High) had three hits and scored two runs.  Bombard, sophomore Matt Lavanchy (Walpole, Mass.), junior Apolinar De La Cruz (Providence, R.I./Classical) and LaJoie all had two hits.  Clement would hurl five shutout innings in relief allowing four hits while striking out three to pick up his first win.

            Southern Maine is back in action on Tuesday (4:00 p.m.) at Saint Joseph's College.  Wheaton will be on the road at the Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.). 

-ble-