Courtesy Trinity Sports Information/ECAC

HARWICH, Mass. - Sophomore Jeremiah Bayer threw a complete game, allowing just two runs on seven hits Trinity reached its 40th win in a row after defeating Wheaton College 6-2 Friday afternoon in the 2008 NCAA Baseball New England Regional. The win puts the Bantams in a tie with Marietta College for the most consecutive wins by a Division III team, and moves them within one win of an appearance in the NCAA Baseball Championship next weekend.

Senior SS Tom DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, Fla.) collected two hits and made several key defensive plays for the Bantams, who were tied at two apiece after sixth innings. In the first, sophomore OF Jack Abbott (Longmeadow, Mass.) walked to get things started and junior tri-captain C Sean Killeen (Greenfield, Mass.) put him on third with a line drive single. Sophomore Kent Graham (Longmeadow, Mass.) followed that up with a liner to right, but was robbed of a hit by the diving leftfielder, junior outfielder Robert Foote (Walpole, Mass.). Abbott scored on the play to give Bayer a lead to work with on the mound.

With a steady ran coming down in the fourth, sophomore Paul Malaguti (Andover, Mass.) and senior Jake Yagjian (Brewster, Mass.) reached on back to back singles off Bayer. Senior Scott Guillerault (South Portland, Maine) then laid down a bunt that Bayer threw away when the ball appeared to slip from his hand, aloowing Malaguti to come around to score. Bayer got out of the inning with some defensive help from Graham, when Foote to bounce into an inning-ending double play. The Lyons tied the game on a run-scoring grounder to short two innings later to tie the game.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bantams re-gained the lead when DeBenedetto slid in at home under the glove of sophomore catcher Jeff Lienek (Foxboro, Mass.) after senior OF Chandler Barnard (Lubbock, Texas) roped a single to left. Senior DH Matt Stafford (Plymouth, Mass.) then chased Lyons starting pitcher, sophomore Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro, Mass.) from the game with an RBI single. Abbott then scored Stafford with one of his three RBI on the day, putting the Bantams up 5-2.

Bayer was dominant in his final three innings, shutting the Lyons down in the seventh, getting out of a bases loaded situation after a key double play turned by DeBenedetto in the eighth, and closing the game with a scoreless ninth inning.

Bayer improves to 8-0 on the season, while Lyons reliever, first-year Kevin Calabro (Andover, Mass.) is handed his first loss of the season, falling to 3-1. Malaguti and senior OF Ken Depasse (Holden, Mass.) each collected two hits and a run to lead the Lyons offense. Abbott, Stafford, DeBenedetto and Barnard had two hits apiece for the Bantams.

Trinity returns to action Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at Whitehouse Field, facing the winner of a noon game between Wheaton and either the University of Southern Maine and Western New England College.