Norton, Mass. – A two out RBI single by Zachary Goodwin-Boyd in the bottom of the 10th inning pushed the Wheaton College baseball team past visiting Clark University, 2-1, on Tuesday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball action at Sidell Stadium.
Wheaton improves to 10-5 on the season and 2-1 in conference play, while the Cougars fall to 11-11 overall.
Michael Baryski earned the win in relief for Wheaton after pitching two complete innings finishing up what Lyons' starter Brady Furdon began, pitching eight innings, striking out four and walking two, while giving up a run on six hits.
For the Scarlet and White, the loss overshadows what could be the best pitching performance in the career of Patrick Robinson (Watertown, Conn.), who tossed eight innings, allowed seven hits, no walks and eight strikeouts.
After two and a half scoreless innings, Wheaton threatened in the bottom of the third, managing three hits, but Cougar backstop Chris Dibble (Manchester, Conn.) came up huge, throwing out Matthew Cook trying to steal second after leading off the inning with a single.
The Lyons finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth when Tyler Walsh got things going with a one out single to center, before stealing second. The first-year then stole third and came home moments later on a wild pitch.
Clark's offense finally pushed a run across in the top of the sixth when Tyler Hutchinson (Greene, Maine) evened the game at 1-1 in the top of the sixth when he crushed a lead-off homerun off the scoreboard in right field.
Both starting pitchers were dialed in and Robinson was still going strong in the sixth, when after he hit Goodwin-Boyd to lead off the inning, he struck the next three batters to end any threat.
For his part, Furdon, was matching Robinson, retiring six straight at one point until Hutchinson's massive blast in the sixth.
It wasn't until the bottom of the 10th that either team got anything going and unfortunately for the Cougars it was the Lyons who got going. The inning began with a single to center by pinch hitter Ty Calabro. First-year Bobby Pedersen came into run for Calabro and swiftly moved to second on a walk to Ryan McKeon. With the top of the order up for Wheaton, the Clark reliever, Joshua Dobratz (Southington, Conn.) managed to retire both Jimmy Smith and Joshua LaJoie.
With two outs and runners at first and second, Goodwin-Boyd sent a ball through the right side, giving enough time for Pedersen to come rushing home from second and sending the Lyons to victory.
Smith and Lajoie each had two hits for Wheaton, while six different players accounted for the Cougars six hits.
Clark returns to the field on Thursday, March 31 at 3:00 p.m. as the Cougars visit Fitchburg State.
