NORTON, Mass. 4/17/11 – In a battle of two regional powers, the Keene State College baseball team saw their seven game win streak come to an end with a 9-3 loss to Wheaton College on Sunday afternoon at Sidell Stadium.
Receiving votes in the D3baseball.com national poll and ranked sixth in the region by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA), Wheaton won for the 19th time in 22 games to move to 23-7. Ranked third in New England, Keene State fell to 20-7.
Senior Sean Munley (Ewing, NJ) went 3-for-5 with three RBI to lead the Lyons, classmate Eric Laliberte (Nashua, NH) was 2-for-3 with two RBI, while senior Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) batted 2-for-4 with a pair of runs.
Freshman Alec Palioca (Wrentham, MA) yielded three earned runs on six hits while fanning two and walking four to pick up his second win of the year. Junior David Longley (Brunswick, ME) tossed two shutout innings, while freshman Ryan Grant (Easton, MA) ran his scoreless stretch to 14 frames after getting through the ninth.
For the Owls, juniors Juan Bisano (New Britain, CT) and Kyle Morrill (Auburn, NH) had two hits apiece, while senior Bobby Doyon (Keene, NH) and freshman Nick Vita (Spofford, NH) each homered.
Sophomore John Coughlin (Litchfield, NH) was saddled with the loss, allowing five runs, four of which were earned, on six hits with two walks in four innings.
Vita got things going in the third with a one-out solo blast over the left field fence. Three batters later, senior Tyler DiPrato (Suffield, CT) singled home a run to make the score 2-0. Palioca averted further damage with a strikeout before getting his final batter to fly out. The hosts answered back with a four-run home half, as Munley plated two with two down. Laliberte put the Lyons on the board with a deep single to right center, and Wheaton made the score 4-2 with an unearned run thanks to a defensive miscue.
Laliberte brought home Wheaton's fifth run with a single in the fourth before Doyon homered the following frame to pull the Owls back within two. The Lyons added two runs in the sixth, with Munley and sophomore Eric Jensen (Gorham, NH) each picking up an RBI, and an additional two insurance runs in the eighth on Haugh's RBI double and sophomore Dan Gusovsky's (Andover, MA) sac fly.
KSC will get another crack against the Lyons, as they will square off at Owl Athletic Complex on Sunday, May 1st, at 1 p.m.
The Owls return to action Tuesday, with a game at in-state rival Plymouth State at 330 p.m.
(Courtesy Wheaton College Sports Information)
