Worcester, Mass. – Visiting Wheaton College scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to snap a 3-3 tie and held on for a 6-4 win in a crucial New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball contest on Tuesday afternoon at Granger Field.

The Lyons, winners of six of their last seven games, improve to 10-5 overall and 4-4 in league play, while the Cougars see their three-game winning streak come to an end and slip to 11-7 and 1-4 in conference play. The victory catapults Wheaton into third place in the NEWMAC standings, while Clark remains a game and a half behind WPI for fifth..

Clark struck first with a run in the second on an RBI single by Matthew Bohl (Amherst, Mass.) but Wheaton answered back with a pair of runs in the top of the third on a leadoff homerun by Hadi Raad (Hastings-on-the Hudson, N.Y.) and a sacrifice fly by Sean Ryan (Norton, Mass.).

The Cougars evened the score in the bottom of the frame when Shawn Lamothe (Bellingham, Mass.) and Nicholas Kellogg (Florence, Mass.) had base hits and Brian Sullivan (Auburn, Mass.) drove in Lamothe with a run scoring single to left field.

After the Lyons went back ahead on a Raad sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth, Clark manufactured the game-tying run in the bottom of the inning. Jeremy Gerber (Amherst, Mass.) was hit by a pitch, and then advanced to second on a stolen base. He scored the game-tying run on an RBI hit to left by Peter Lewis (Gardiner, Maine).

A single to center by Dan Haugh (Andover, Mass.) to lead off the sixth chased Cougar starter Benjamin Seel (Oakland, Maine) after five effective innings. He was relieved by Nickolas Winchell (Scituate, R.I.) and the Lyons pushed three runs across on a sacrifice fly by Eric Laliberte (Nashua, N.H.), a bases loaded walk by Hal Landers (Salem, N.H.) and an RBI single by Tad Skelley (Wolfeboro, N.H.).

Clark got a run back in the sixth when Gerber scored on an RBI single by Kellogg and then put their biggest threat together in the eighth. Bohl got things going when he struck out but advanced to first on a wild pitch by reliever Kevin Calabro (Andover, Mass.). Later in the inning with one out, Lamothe singled to put runners on first and second and then they moved to second and third following a Lewis sacrifice. Calabro, however, was able to get Kellogg to fly out to center to end the threat.

Ryan Grant (Easton, Mass.) then came into the ninth and allowed a single to Sullivan, who advanced to second with one out. He then retired pinch hitter Andrew Agostini (Williamstown, Mass.) via the strikeout and then got Derek Dubois (Haverhill, Mass.) on a comebacker to the mound to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Nick Filloramo (Rochester, Mass.) went the first five innings, scattering ten hits and striking out five for the Lyons to move to 3-0 on the season.

Sean Munley (Ewing, N.J.) and Dan Gusovsky (Andover, Mass.) each had two hits for Wheaton, while Raad scored a pair of runs and drove in two more.

The Cougars got a strong relief appearance from senior Phillip Bertocci (Thomason, Maine), who went 3.1 innings and allowed three hits while striking out a pair.

Sullivan meanwhile went 4-for-5 at the plate with an RBI and Kellogg was 3-for-5.

These two teams will meet for the final time in the regular season on Wednesday with a 3:00 p.m. start at Wheaton.