AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Wheaton College (1-0) rallied from a 4-0 deficit with five runs in the top of the seventh to defeat Saint Joseph's College (4-3), 5-4, in a RussMatt Central Florida Invitational contest on Friday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Unfortunately for the Monks, a dominant effort by sophomore starter Josh Partridge (Deerfield, N.H.), who did not allow a hit until the Lyons notched a bunt single in the fourth and yielded just three hits over the first six frames, went for naught, as the Lyons broke through with five runs off three hits and an SJC error in the seventh, chasing the second-year southpaw from the game in the process.
Saint Joseph's grabbed an early lead with a pair of runs off two hits and a Wheaton miscue in the top of the first. With one out, junior third baseman Taylor Black (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.) was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a botched double play ball, and scored on a Nic Lops (South Portland, Maine/Cheverus) single. Junior Jameson Collins (Sandown, N.H.) doubled the Monks' edge by plating senior Taylor Reuillard (Biddeford, Maine), who reached on the misplayed twin killing, with a sharply hit single through the left side.
St. Joe's tacked on single runs in the second and fifth en route to securing a 4-0 advantage. In the second, junior right fielder Dennis Meehan (Gardiner, Maine) reached on an infield error, moved to second on a Joey Murphy (Derry, N.H.) sac bunt, and sprinted home when freshman Anthony DiPrizio (Rochester, N.H.) produced a two-out single.
With two out in the fifth, Reuillard doubled to right-center and promptly scored when the following batter, Lops, lined a single to left-center, making it a 4-0 game through five.
Things unraveled quickly in the top of the seventh, however, as Wheaton freshman Tyler Walsh led off the frame by launching a solo homer over the left field wall and Joseph Santigate and Ty Calabro worked walks to give the Lyons runners on first and second with nobody out. Senior reliever Riley Cox (Westford, Mass.) entered the game to face Willy Boyd, who dropped down a sac bunt to move his teammates up 90 feet, setting the stage for Joshua LaJoie, who plated both runners with a double down the left field line, cutting his team's deficit down to 4-3.
SJC senior closer Corey McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) came on in an attempt to close the door, but was not helped by his defense as an infield error allowed the tying run to score and Justin Silvestro knocked in the eventual game-winning run with a single to right-center.
The Monks had a runner in scoring position with singles by Collins and Scott Betts (Peabody, Mass.) and some small ball in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, but Wheaton reliever Eric Dumas settled in and closed out the contest with a strikeout to pick up his first save of the year.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S
- Lops went 2-4 with a pair of RBI
- Collins was 2-4 with an RBI
- Reuillard doubled and scored a pair of runs
- Partridge finished the day having allowed three runs off four hits and four walks with four K's in six innings
- McNamara took the loss after yielding an unearned run off three hits with three strikeouts in 2.2 innings
LEADERS – WHEATON
- Walsh was 2-4 with a solo home run
- LaJoie went 2-5 with a run, a double, and a pair of RBI
- Silvestro added two hits and an RBI in five at-bats
- Starting pitcher Brady Furdon earned the victory after allowing four runs (two earned) off seven hits with four punch outs in six innings
- Dumas allowed a hit and fanned a pair in the ninth
NOTEWORTHY
Walsh's solo homer in the top of the seventh is the first long ball allowed by the SJC pitching staff this season…for Partridge, who tossed five scoreless frames in a victory over WPI on Sunday, the long ball ended a six-appearance streak in which he had not allowed a run. The second-year lefty worked primarily out of the bullpen last spring.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 5-9 all-time versus Wheaton College, a team the Monks swept by 14-6 and 3-2 scores last year (3/7/15) in Auburndale.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's closes out the nine-game southern swing tomorrow with a doubleheader versus Western New England starting at 9:00 AM. Wheaton faces Rhodes College tomorrow at 9:00 AM.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
