A perfect day at the play for senior Sam Goines and 15 hits allowed the Wilmington University baseball team outslug East Stroudsburg, 13-8, on the road on Thursday afternoon at Mitterling Feld.
The Wildcats (25-8), ranked No. 24 in the D2BaseballNews.com and No. 25 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Poll, scored eight runs through the first six innings and then put the game away with a five run eighth.
East Stroudsburg (24-12) closed the gap to 8-6 with a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth, but couldn't get any close the rest of the game.
The Wildcats hit three home runs on the afternoon and was led by Goines' 5-for-5 game which put him batting over .400 for the season. Goines hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the first, singled in the third, fourth, sixth, and eighth innings, producing another RBI with his final single in the eighth inning. He also scored three runs on the day.
Annone homered for the Wildcats, leading off the third inning with his fourth round-tripper of the year to tie for the team lead. His run sparked a three run third inning, putting the visitors on top, 5-0.
Samluk pitched the first five innings for the Wildcats while also hitting his second home run of the season, leading off the fourth inning to put the Wildcats up 6-1. He improved to 5-0 on the season on the mound while striking out five, giving up two runs on eight hits.
After the Warriors put four on the board in the bottom of the sixth to close the gap to 8-6 on the strength of a Ian Allen grand slam, the Wildcats put the game away with a five run eighth. The Wildcats used four hits and were aided by two errors in the inning to score the five runs. Annone started the scoring with an RBI single, before Goines added an RBI single two batters later. Matt Lopes grounded out to short but drove in Josh Swirchak. Sean Feeney added to the scoring with an RBI single before eventually coming around to score the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.
Reliever Jake Wersinger left two runners on in the eighth to escape further damage from the Warriors one run in the inning before leaving the bases loaded in the ninth after giving up a run to end the game.
Wersinger tossed the final four innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. The Warriors' Cody Klinger was saddled with the loss after giving up six runs (four earned) in four innings, allowing eight hits while picking up five strikeouts.
Swirchak batted 3-for-4 while scoring four runs to keep his stranglehold on top of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference leaderboard with a .436 average. Annone and Feeney added two hits each for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats doubleheader at Post on Friday has been postponed and could possibly make up a game at Millersville on Monday afternoon. The Wildcats also head to West Chester for a pair of seven-inning games on Tuesday afternoon.