Worcester, Mass. – Clark University pushed across eight runs in the fifth inning, sending 13 batters to the plate en route to an 11-8 win over Wheaton College  in New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action on Wednesday afternoon at Granger Field.

With the win, the Cougars snap a 17-game losing streak to their conference rival and improve to 4-7 on the year, evening their conference record at 1-1. The loss for the Lyons, meanwhile, is their first conference loss of the season (3-1) and they now sit at 9-5 overall.

The Scarlet and White's last win over the Lyons came on April 13, 2008 – a 14-10 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader.

Wheaton actually jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a long homerun to left by Joe Santigate (Staten Island, N.Y.) in the top of the second.

Clark evened the score with two runs in the second. First, Zach Richall (Tewksbury, Mass.) doubled home Dennis Glynn (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) and then Kyle Bonicki (Waterbury, Conn.) brought home Tyler Hutchinson (Greene, Maine) on a run-scoring groundout

The Lyons responded with two runs in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Joshua LaJoie (Somers, Conn.) and Justin Silvestro (Waltham, Mass.). That inning would spell the end of the day for Clark starter Jack Kenney (Saco, Maine), who went four innings, allowing four runs and yielding ten hits.

Down 4-2 entering the fifth, the Cougar bats came to life with an offensive explosion that saw eight hits happen in the frame including two from Hutchinson. The big blows came from courtesy of a two-run double by Bonicki and a two-run triple from Hutchinson, while both Michael Eglow (Delmar, N.Y.) and Matt Asdornvuttikrai (Winchester, Mass.) each had sacrifice flies. Glynn was in the middle of all the action as well, scoring the first run of the inning on an error after a leadoff single and he then drove in another run with a two-out double.

Trailing 10-4, Wheaton got one run back in the sixth off of reliever Joseph Gouveia (Nashua, N.H.), but the damage could've been much worse. LaJoie led off with a single and then went to third on a Silvestro double. After an Apolinar De La Cruz (Providence, R.I.) RBI groundout, Mike Benaduce (North Kingstown, R.I.) hit a grounder to the left side that Richall snared and fired home in time to cut down Silvestro who was trying to score from third. A single by Thomas Landry (Hingham, Mass.) put runners on first and second with two outs, but Gouveia was able to get Justin Peluso (North Reading, Mass.) to flyout to end the inning.

The Lyons threatened again in the seventh when they loaded the bases with two outs, but again Gouveia was able to work out of trouble, getting De La Cruz to flyout to center.

Clark tacked on another run in the seventh when Eglow blasted his first career homerun deep to left field to lead off the inning.

Wheaton returned the favor in the top of the eighth when Benduce greeted Cougar reliever Kai Glick (New York, N.Y.) with a towering shot to left centerfield, making the score, 11-6. Landry followed that up with a double and eventually came around to score on a Peluso sacrifice fly.

Things got even more interesting in the ninth when the Lyons brought the go ahead run to the plate against reliever Brett O'Keefe (Brighton, Mass.) after he yielded three straight singles to open the frame, loading the bases. He worked his way out of it, however, giving up an RBI groundout to De La Cruz before striking out Benaduce and getting Landry to pop out harmlessly to shortstop to end the game.

Amazingly, Wheaton banged out a season-high 20 hits in the loss led by an outstanding offensive performance from LaJoie, who went 5-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. Not to be outdone, Silvestro added a 4-for-5 afternoon, while Bendaduce went 3-for-6.

Jack Fant (McLean, Va.) took the loss for the Lyons, going four innings and giving up four hits and five runs, only three of them earned.

Gouveia (2-0) got the win in relief for the Scarlet and White, tossing three innings while allowing five hits and one earned run.

Hutchinson went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI from his leadoff spot for the Cougars, while Bonicki drove in three runs and Glynn was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

Wheaton returns to the diamond on Thursday with a home contest against league rival Babson. Clark, meanwhile, gets back into action on Friday with a doubleheader against WPI at the New England Baseball Complex.