Late Spurt Helps Wilmington Baseball Roll to its Seventh Straight Win, 11-2, over Bridgeport

Late Spurt Helps Wilmington Baseball Roll to its Seventh Straight Win, 11-2, over Bridgeport

The Wilmington University baseball team tallied five runs in the eighth inning to secure an 11-2 nonconference win over Bridgeport on Wednesday afternoon at Wilson Field.

The Wildcats (12-6) continued their winning ways as they went toe-to-toe with the Purple Knights (4-14) as they both exchanged runs early, but the bats became hot for the Wildcats in the eighth inning and they would finish off the Purple Knights to earn their seventh straight win.

An RBI ground out by Josh Swirchak allowed Frank Samluk to come home to put the Wildcats on top in the bottom of the first inning.

As the game continued the Wildcats would score again in the bottom of the third as a pair of stolen bases by Christian Adorno would help increase the Wildcats' lead to 2-0.

Later in the fourth, with the help of a fielding error and a stolen base, Sam Goines was able to make it home and tally another run for the Wildcats, making the score 3-0.

As the sixth inning commenced, the Purple Knights began to cut into the Wildcats' lead. Dylan Steigerwald and Casey McCone scored unearned runs, making the score going into the bottom of the sixth, 3-2. The Wildcats would strike back however, as Mike Annone would triple and bring home Goines and later would score himself on a Matt Lopes single to give the Wildcats a 5-2 lead.

In the seventh, Samluk would score again as a wild pitch would bring him home and add an insurance run for the Wildcats. As the bottom of the eighth would roll around, the Wildcats closed the door on the Purple Knights as they scored five more runs with runs being brought in by Matt Lopes and Tory Manfre. Swirchak capped off the scoring with a three-run blast, bringing in Castro and Samluk to make the final 11-2.

Jake Wersinger went five scoreless innings today before turning the ball over to the bullpen. He had two strikeouts and only allowed three hits as he improved to 1-2 on the year.

Chris Lopez struck out one batter and walked one along with giving up two runs before getting out of the sixth inning. Mike Torres struck out two and walked one in the seventh and Kyle Menchaca closed out the eighth after giving up one hit. Matt Frost struck out the final three batters to close out the game.

Swirchak, Castro, Annone, Hawthorne, and Lopes led the offensive front for the Wildcats as they accounted for eight RBI's for the team and accounted for four of the team's seven hits.

The Wildcats will continue their home stand this Saturday and return to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. against conference team Nyack College.

Press release produced by Sports Information Intern Jake Weitzenecker