Norton, Mass. – The nation's No. 10 team, Wheaton College, scored four runs in the fifth inning to break open a close game and knock off Clark University, 9-4 in NEWMAC baseball action on Saturday afternoon at Sidell Stadium.

Senior right-handed pitcher Frank Holbrook (Middletown, R.I.) improved his record to 3-0 overall on the season scattering six hits over six innings. Holbrook yielded one run (earned), three walks and struck out five batters.

Freshman Eric Dumas (Brookline, Mass.) extended his scoreless innings streak to eight-and-one-thirds innings fanning two batters in a clean seventh inning. Classmate Steve Consiglio (Southbury, Conn.) whiffed one hitter in a 1-2-3 eighth for the Lyons.

Clark senior Andrew LeBlanc (Farmington, Conn.) suffered the loss on four innings pitched, eight hits, seven runs (six earned), three walks and two strikeouts.

Sean Ryan (Norton, Mass.) gave the Lyons a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly to center field. Zach Bombard (Belchertown, Mass.) extended the gap to 2-0 in the next half inning with an RBI single up the middle plating senior catcher Dan Gusovsky (Andover, Mass.) who led off the frame with a double to right-center field.

Wheaton broke the game open in the fifth with a four-run inning highlighted by a two-run double down the left field line from Apolinar De la Cruz (Providence, R.I.). Third baseman Justin Peluso (North Andover, Mass.) drove in a run on an RBI ground out and Bombard capped the scoring with a run-producing single down the right field line.

The Cougars cut into the deficit in the sixth as freshman James Conway (Newburyport, Mass.) brought home junior Brian Sullivan (Auburn, Mass.) with an RBI ground out to short. Sullivan led off the inning with a triple to center field.

De la Cruz added another RBI double in the bottom half of the frame and Gusovsky drove in his only run of the contest with a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Ryan. Clark made it 9-4 with a three-run ninth inning on three runs, two hits, one error and one runner left on base.

Brett O'Keefe (Brighton, Mass.) went 2-for-3 for the Cougars, while Andrew Doolittle (Hebron, Conn.) was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Wheaton (6-4, 1-0 NEWMAC) hosts Clark (4-10, 0-4 NEWMAC) for a doubleheader at Sidell Stadium with game one scheduled for 12:30 p.m.