By BRENDEN SOARES

Despite having missed a number of games, Cranston West alum Drew Spirito has established himself as a significant part of the Wheaton lineup this spring, producing his share of runs for an offense-minded Lyons team.

In the 25 games that they have played to date, the Wheaton nine has reached double figures on the scoreboard ten times, most recently in their latest contest, a 10-9 decision over MIT to close out a three-game weekend series with the Engineers on Saturday.

Spirito did his part by going 2-for-4 at the plate, lacing a double in the fourth inning to drive home Zach DeMattio for the Lyons’ fourth run of the game before picking up an infield single three innings later to advance what ended up being the winning run.

The ex-Falcon now has 17 runs batted in on the campaign, three of which came in a 7-6 win against Springfield on April 10 that saw him drill his second home run of the season in the fifth inning to put the Lyons 5-4 ahead in between a pair of sacrifice flies.

It was arguably the most influential game Spirito had inside the batter’s box since Wheaton’s 11-9 setback to Webster on March 18, as he went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored against the tenth-ranked Gorloks.

Over the 16 games that he has played thus far, the first baseman is hitting at a .290 clip with five doubles and 13 runs scored along with three sacrifice flies, one off the team pace set by Cavan Brady.

After taking two of three from MIT, a busy week awaits Spirito and the rest of the 15-10 Lyons, taking on the Coast Guard Academy and UMass-Boston on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before starting a three-game set against Emerson on Friday.

The foundation of any successful team is a stingy defense, and the rearguard of the men’s lacrosse team at Dean has been a barricade this spring, aided in part by Cranston West graduate Chris Carbone Jr.

Although only a freshman, the former Falcon has played in all but one of the Bulldogs’ 12 contests to date and has been earning his stripes as a stay-at-home ball-winner, racking up 20 ground balls and causing five turnovers.

Carbone’s ground balls have tended to come in bunches of threes, reaching that amount on no less than three occasions, with his season best of four coming in just his second game, an 11-4 upending of Russell Sage on March 2.

Dean improved its record to 10-2 on the season last Saturday with a 13-4 win over Emmanuel, extending its current winning streak to three-in-a-row and also managing to allow five or fewer goals in a game for the sixth time this spring.