St. Joe's Falls to #18 Wheaton, 6-1

St. Joe's Falls to #18 Wheaton, 6-1

AUBURNDALE, FL – Saint Joseph's (2-4) suffered a 6-1 defeat at the hands of nationally-ranked Wheaton College (3-1) on Wednesday morning. Junior hurler Andrew Devereaux (Hope Valley, RI) tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless relief in the losing effort.

Senior third baseman Chris Campbell (Rochester, NH) singled home Nate Martin '13 (Chebeague Island, ME) in the top of the first and the Monks clung on to the 1-0 advantage until the Lyons put up five runs with the help of two SJC errors in the fifth inning.

St. Joe's starter Mason Roberge '11 (Franklin, NH) took the loss after surrendering seven hits and two earned runs in 4.1 innings on the mound. Sean Drake '13 (Lebanon, NH) walked two and allowed an earned run in one inning of relief for the Monks.

After rapping 15 hits in a 10-9 setback to Keene State on Tuesday, the SJC bats were mostly quiet in the loss today. The Monks registered just five hits, all singles, as Martin, Campbell, Todd Keneborus '11 (Hollis Center, ME/Cheverus), Sam Butts '13 (Saco, ME) and Dan Achorn '12 (Bow, NH) all reached via base knock in the loss.

For Wheaton, Hal Landers went 3-4 with a run scored, Tad Skelley was 2-3 with a run and a double, and Sean Ryan went 2-5. Starting pitcher Frank Holbrook, who hit three batters, scattered three hits and fanned five in six innings to earn his first win of the 2011 campaign.

The Lyons entered today's game ranked 18th in the nation, according to the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Poll.

St. Joe's squandered excellent scoring opportunities in the sixth and seventh innings. The Monks had the bases loaded in the sixth with nobody out in the sixth and runners on first and second with two out in the seventh but failed to get the big hit in both scenarios.

The inability to take advantage of the scoring chances seemed to take the wind out of the Monks' sails as the Royal Blue went three-up, three down in the eighth and ninth frames.

Saint Joseph's will face Fitchburg State in a nine-inning game tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM.