Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy baseball team started with a lead over Wheaton College, but ultimately dropped the game to the Lyons on Wednesday. The softball team extended its winning streak to 15 with a win over Wheaton. The following information was provided by the Coast Guard Academy Athletic Department:

Softball: Coast Guard 1, Wheaton 0

Junior All-American Hayley Feindel fired a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts and top-seeded Coast Guard, ranked fourth nationally, scratched a run across in the bottom of the seventh on a fielder’s choice to run its win streak to 15 and beat fifth-seeded Wheaton 1-0 in Game 3 of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Softball Tournament.

It was a pitchers’ duel between Feindel and Wheaton freshman Allison Baker. Wheaton sophomore Amanda Drury broke up Feindel’s perfect game with an infield single to shortstop with two outs in the sixth inning. The only player to hit the ball out of the infield was senior Nicole DeRosa who lined out to center in the second inning.

Feindel was dominant as she struck out 10 of the first 11 batters she faced and became just the fourth player in Division III history to register over 1,100 strikeouts. She finished the game with 1,104 career strikeouts and improved to 31-1 on the season. She leads the nation in wins (31), shutouts (22) and strikeouts (355).

Baker, who threw a two-hitter in Wheaton’s 8-0 win over fourth-seeded Babson in the first game of the day, allowed just a pair of singles. Coast Guard junior Jamie Kim singled in the third, the Bears only base runner until the bottom of the seventh.

Sophomore Holli Bastinck had a one-out single before sophomore Catherine Walker hit a comebacker that Baker threw into centerfield allowing the runners to advance to second and third. Sophomore Megan Cook then hit a ground ball to first and Bastinck broke for home on contact and beat the throw to give the Bears the dramatic win.

Baker (14-11) walked one and struck out one in taking the tough luck loss for Wheaton.

Wheaton (19-17) will play sixth-seeded Clark, a 4-1 loser to #3 Wellesley, on Friday at 2 p.m. at Coast Guard (32-1) in an elimination game while Coast Guard will take on second-seeded Springfield, a 6-1 winner over #3 Wellesley, at 4:30 in the winners’ bracket final following that game.

Baseball: Wheaton 7, Coast Guard 1

The top-seeded Wheaton College baseball team overcame a 3-1 deficit by scoring six unanswered runs en route to a 7-3 victory over fourth seed United States Coast Guard Academy during Wednesday's opening round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament at Sidell Stadium.

The Lyons will host third-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Friday at 3:30 p.m., when Coast Guard travels to number-two Babson College in an elimination game. Wheaton, which is ranked 21st nationally and second in New England, won for the 20th time in its last 23 games to improve to 24-7. Coast Guard fell to 19-14.

Wheaton pounded out 16 hits, as each starter recorded at least one base knock. Senior Hadi Raad went a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs, a pair of doubles, one triple and an RBI. Junior Hal Landers was 4-for-5 with three runs and an RBI, while senior Eric Laliberte went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Sophomore Eric Jensen plated three runs, senior Sean Munley drove in a run, and junior Dan Haugh drew two intentional walks while notching his career-best 18th double.

Collecting his sixth straight win, junior Nolan Corr allowed three earned runs on six hits while fanning three with no walks in seven-plus innings. Senior Kevin Calabro and junior David Longley each tossed a shutout frame in relief.

Coast Guard sophomore Mike Massaro went 2-for-4, while six other Bears posted one hit apiece. Senior hurler Jesse Karr took the loss, surrendering seven earned runs while striking out three and fanning three in seven innings.

Wheaton plated the game's first run in the first when Jensen scored Landers on a sacrifice fly to center. The Lyons looked to add another run on Haugh's two-bagger but instead got caught in a rundown between third and home and tagged out.

The Bears made the score 3-1 in the second after stringing together three hits coupled with a Wheaton error. Sophomore Nolan Gallagher and senior Graham Sherman each had RBI singles in the inning while freshman Dave Wolinski added a sac fly.

The Lyons attempted to score their second run on another double in the home half of the second, this time off the bat of Raad, but the visitors gunned down a runner at the plate to keep the margin at two. After a Coast Guard batter reached base on another Lyon miscue with one down in the third followed by a Bear single, Corr induced an inning-ending double play before retiring eight batters in a row.

Munley's run-scoring double in the third narrowed Wheaton's deficit to one before the Lyons took the lead for good the following frame, using four hits to push three runs across for a 5-3 lead. Jensen provided the big blow with a two-RBI double down the left field line. Landers brought around the hosts' sixth run during a three-hit sixth.