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May 19, 2007

Wheaton pitcher Moore fans 16, Lyons win 7-1

Junior southpaw Josh Moore shattered the Wheaton College baseball program's nine-year-old single-game strikeouts record with 16 followed the top-seeded Lyons' 7-1 victory over third seed Williams College during Saturday night's NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament at Whitehouse Field.

With the victory, the Lyons advance to tonight's second elimination game against number five Keene State College at 9:30 p.m., as Wheaton will look to avenge yesterday's 6-3 setback to the Owls. Ranked sixth nationally and first in New England by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), the Blue and White raises its overall record to 34-12. The Ephs finish their season at 27-10.

Moore's incredible outing bested two 13 single-game strikeout performances from Nate Vedrani '00 during the program's first varsity season in 1998. Moore's career showing included striking out two sides in order in the second and ninth frames. Facing 31 batters, he didn't issue any walks and allowed just one earned run on five singles. Forcing six groundouts and four fly balls, Moore improved to 8-1, matching his own and the school's season victories mark.

The Lyons also received early offense, powering three home runs to account for five of their runs, as senior leadoff hitter Travis Anthoine (Portland, ME/Portland) fell a double shy of the hitting for the cycle. He went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI from the leadoff slot, while classmate and hometown product Adam Laplante (Harwich,
MA/Harwich) batted 3-for-4 with two RBI, two runs and a homer. Junior Scott Guillerault (South Portland, ME/South Portland) went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI, a longball and a double.

Laplante got things started early for Wheaton, belting his fourth home run of the season over the left field fence. The longball was with two down and one on in the first, as Anthoine reached base with a single to right. Moore also set the early tone after retiring five of his first six batters on strikes.

In the top of the second, Guillerault launched his team-high-tying fourth homer of the spring with a solo shot that stayed fair down the left field line for a 3-0 Lyon lead. The Ephs got on the board in the fourth when senior Sean Gleeson (Glen Ridge, NJ) hit an RBI single, but Anthoine quickly gave Wheaton a four-run lead thanks to his first roundtripper of the year in the fifth, a two-run shot to left for a
5-1 advantage.

Moore retired nine batters in a row from the fourth through seventh innings, including recording five strikeouts during that stretch.
Williams senior reliever Cory Catelli (Westport, MA) had set down 10 straight batters over four frames before Laplante's dribbler to third in the eighth broke it up. Two batters later, Guillerault's deep double to left center brought Laplante around to make the score 6-1, and sophomore Robert Foote's (Walpole, MA/Walpole) sacrifice fly extended Wheaton's lead to six.

For Williams, five different batters recorded a single apiece, while junior starter Matt Gustafson (Cupertino, CA) suffered his first loss of the season after surrendering five earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and one walks through four-plus innings.

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 9:41 PM to College Sports | Permalink

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