GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - - The Wilmington University baseball team saw their season come to a close on Friday at the 2017 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament, falling to Chestnut Hill, 5-3, at Municipal Stadium, hosted by Post University.
A four-run seventh inning propelled the Griffins to continue their run in the CACC Tournament, although the Wildcats (30-21) made a late run, bringing the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.
Starter Zach Rumford pitching into the seventh inning, only allowing an unearned run in the top of the fifth before the seventh inning. He struck out six while allowing six hits and four walks.
A one-out walk followed by a single put Griffins on first and third with in the seventh. The Griffins took a 2-0 lead on a fielder's choice. Now with Nick Grant pitching, Chestnut Hill moved up two bases on a pair of wild pitches before another fielder's choice brought in another run for the 4-0 lead. A two-out RBI single to right finished the scoring for the inning, giving the Griffins a 5-0 lead.
The Wildcats answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, getting three straight singles to start the inning. The third single of the inning was off the bat of Dan Hyatt, scoring Julian Kurych to put the Wildcats on the board. Jesse Long brought in the second run of the inning, but hit into a double play to clear the bases.
The Wildcats went quietly in the eighth but gave themselves a chance in their final at-bat. Kendall Small started the inning with an infield single, but back-to-back ground balls put two outs on the board. Hyatt kept the game alive with an RBI single to right, but Chestnut Hill induced a fly out to end the game, 5-3.
Rocky Ferrier led the Wildcats with three hits while Small, Kurych, and Hyatt each had two hits. Hyatt led the way with two RBI.
Chestnut Hill's Justin Harnett went the distance for the complete game, giving up three runs on 10 hits to improve to 3-3 on the year.
The Griffins advance to play Dominican in the 2017 CACC Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon.