Wrentham's Palioca, Wheaton College Baseball in NCAA Division 3 Tournament

Former King Philip standout Alec Palioca and the Wheaton College baseball team earned No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division 3 Tournament. The Lyons will play Salem State  Wednesday in the regional opener at Harwich's Whitehouse Field.

Second-seeded Wheaton is ranked no.15 overall in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, will make its 12th  appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament in program history.

A Wrentham native, Palioca is a two-time NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year and ranks second in wins (6) and games started (9) in the conference, third in strikeouts (51) and shutouts (1) and 11th in earned run average (2.52). Palioca averaged 8.55 strikeouts per game, a 3.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and held opponents to a .230 batting average against in 200 at-bats. Overall on the season, Wheaton went 8-1 when Palioca started.

Wheaton (30-10) earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament after claiming its 13th New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title in the 15-year history of the league with a 6-3 victory in the championship game over MIT on Saturday, May 4 at Sidell Stadium. The Vikings (25-13) also received an automatic bid into the New England Regional winning their second-ever Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) championship, and first since 2006, 5-0 over Westfield State Sunday, May 5.

Fourth-seeded Western New England (31-11) will take on fifth-seeded MIT (27-11) in game one of the New England Regional while first-seeded Southern Maine (37-7) will play eighth-seeded Daniel Webster (28-10) in game two. Third-seeded Endicott (32-12) rounds out Wednesday’s slate of games as the Gulls matchup against sixth-seeded St. Joseph’s of Maine (30-12) in game three. Wheaton plays Salem State in game four on Wednesday night.