Lyons Provides Late Heroics With Ninth Inning Two-Run Triple As Baseball Notches Fifth Straight Victory With 5-4 Non-League Triumph At Bryant

April 13, 2006

STONEHILL BASEBALL

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Bryant Baseball Complex, Smithfield, R.I.

FINAL: STONEHILL 5, BRYANT 4

123 456 789 R H E

Stonehill (16-11) 000 100 112 - 5 14 0

Bryant (10-25) 010 000 300 - 4 6 2

BATTERIES

STO: Matt Giusti, Chris Herrmann (7) and Matt Vaughn

BRY: Steve Salerno, Luke Cowan (5), Adam Vuolo (8) and Nick Tucarella

WP: Herrmann (1-1) LP: Vuolo (2-4)

SMITHFIELD, R.I.-- Senior Coley Lyons's (West Roxbury, Mass.) two-run triple in the top of the ninth plated the tying and winning runs as Stonehill collected its fifth straight victory with a 5-4 non-league college baseball triumph over Bryant at the Bryant Baseball Complex, completing a three-game series sweep in the process.

The visiting Skyhawks (16-11), who won three one-run decisions in the series (including a pair of Northeast-10 Conference triumphs on Tuesday and Wednesday), trailed 4-3 heading into their final at-bat but received a lead-off double from junior Matt Vaughn (Bow, N.H.) and a single by senior Sean Lawrence (New Rochelle, N.Y.) that set up Lyons's game-winning three-bagger.

The host Bulldogs (10-25) took a 1-0 second inning lead on a bases-loaded walk to sophomore Brian Cleary (West Boylston, Mass.), but Stonehill evened matters in the fourth when Lyons scored on a double play groundout and took a 2-1 edge in the seventh on a Lawrence sacrifice fly that plated sophomore Ryan Halloran (Tyngsboro, Mass.). Bryant struck for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 4-2 cushion, as RBI singles by senior Paul Novakowski (Prospect, Conn.) and sophomore Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn.), along with a run-scoring wild pitch, gave the hosts the lead, but the Skyhawks climbed back to within one in the eighth on Halloran's RBI single, setting up Lyons's heroics in the ninth.

Halloran rapped out three of Stonehill's 14 hits on the afternoon, as the Skyhawks received two hits each from Lyons, Lawrence, Vaughn, junior Tom Aldrich (New Canaan, Conn.) and sophomore David Fradette (Goffstown, N.H.). Junior Chris Herrmann (Chelmsford, Mass.) picked up the win for the Skyhawks in relief of freshman Matt Giusti (Hopkinton, Mass.), who fanned nine over the first 6 1/3 innings of work. Cleary and senior Nick Tucarella (Salem, N.H.) each had two hits as part of Bryant's six-hit effort, as sophomore Adam Vuolo (Walpole, Mass.) suffered his second setback in as many days in relief for the Bulldogs, falling to 2-4 on the season.

Stonehill travels to Pleasantville, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon for a Northeast-10 doubleheader with Pace that begins at Noon, while Bryant heads to Worcester, Mass. on Monday afternoon to take on Assumption in a league outing that begins at 3:30 p.m.