Standish, Maine- The Saint Joseph's College baseball team (17-18) dropped a doubleheader against visiting Wheaton College (25-8) Saturday afternoon. The Lyons won game one, 3-2, and took game two 9-2. The Monks could only manage seven hits compared with 21 for Wheaton and it took its toll, as Saint Joseph's just couldn't muster any offense and now falls to 17-18 overall.
The Lyons opened the scoring in the fourth inning of the first game, when Keith Cooper doubled home Scott Beattie for Wheaton’s first run. Wheaton took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning when Mark Brown reached second on an error by right fielder Andy Exley and a Tim Ziakas single allowed him to advance to third. Brown scored on a Rob Cipolla RBI single.
Saint Joseph's College put up two runs of its own in the fifth inning when Nick Mirabello’s double scored Ben Muniz and Lucas Hannigan.
Wheaton pushed the game-winning rub across the plate in the sixth inning. Beattie and Keith Cooper hit back-to-back singles with one out. A Brett Edmunds hit a single through the middle that scored Beattie for a 3-2 lead. Meanwhile, Bryan Duplissie and Matt Parlato combined to stymie the Monks from the mound until the seventh inning, when Lyons closer Mark DeMasse finished the game and earned his fifth save of the year.
Starter Jerrett Shaffer (6-2) got the loss for Saint Joseph's, who was led at the plate by Mirabello's 2-3, two RBI performance. Lyons’ Beattie led the way by going three for four with two runs scored.
Wheaton once again took advantage of 11 hits in defeating Saint Joseph's 9-2 in the second game. The Lyons scored six runs in the fifth inning to go up 6-2. Two consecutive singles from Rafael Castillo and Tim Ziakas and a Cipolla double tied the game at 2-2. A Cooper double down the right field line scored Cipolla, Bryan Duplisse's sacrifice fly to left field scored Beattie, Brett Edmunds’ RBI single scored Cooper and later scored on two consecutive errors by catcher Derek McIntosh and center fielder Mirabello.
Wheaton added three more runs in the sixth inning on a Beattie RBI single and a Cooper double to go up 9-2.
Trevor Alexander (2-2) earned the victory on the mound for Wheaton. He threw three innings in relief allowing no hits, no runs, while striking out five batters. Starter Matt Ponte pitched four innings, but did not factor in the decision, allowing two runs on three hits.
The Monks scored two runs in the second on a double by Hannigan and added one more on a RBI groundout from Ben Muniz.
Saint Joseph's starter Matt Vasil (0-3) took the loss after allowing six hits and five runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings.
The Monks only registered three hits in the game. Jesse LaCasse, Jake Rodden, and Lucas Hannigan all reached safely once. Wheaton was led by Cooper's 3-for-4, two RBI day. Beattie went 2-for-3 with two runs and an one RBI, and Ziakas totaled two hits and two runs.
