NEW CASTLE, Del. - - The Wilmington University baseball team lost a late game lead in the nightcap of a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Dominican on Monday, splitting the day by winning the opener, 9-2, before dropping game two, 11-5, at Wilson Field.
The Wildcats (28-18, 23-9 CACC) belted 13 hits in the opener but were haunted by six errors in the nightcap, resulting in seven unearned runs. The Wildcats held a 5-4 lead after six innings, but allowed seven runs over the final three innings in the loss.
Game One:
The Wildcats scored two runs in the bottom of the second and never looked back, putting the game away with a three-run fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead.
A throwing error on a stolen base brought in the first run for the Wildcats. With the bases loaded and two outs, Max Carney laid a perfect bunt down the third base side, scoring Dakota Graham for the quick 2-0 lead.
Graham came up again in the third inning and gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Kyle Fries from third.
Dakota Graham was in the thick of things once again in the fifth, as Frank NIgro led off the inning with and a single and was moved up 90 feet by a sacrifice bunt from Nick Macey. Graham singled back up the middle, chasing Nigro home from second.
With runners on first and third, a wild pitch brought in Graham for the 5-0 lead before Brooks Ryan launched an RBI triple off the base of the fence in right field to chase Charger starter John-Michael Broderick.
After the Chargers broke the shutout attempt in the eighth, the Wildcats got the run back and more in the bottom half. A wild pitch and a throwing error brought in Christian Adorno and Kendall Small ended the scoring for the Wildcats with a sacrifice fly.
Wildcat starter Sean Deely went seven scoreless innings while striking out five and allowing four hits. HE improved to 5-1 on the year with the win. Bryce Carney allowing a run in his eighth inning of work before Micky Foytik closed the game out with allowing a run in the ninth inning.
Nick Grant went 3-for-4 while Brooks Ryan, Kyle Fries, and Dakota Graham collected two hits each.
Game Two:
Dominican scored three runs without collecting a hit in the top of the first of the nightcap, but the Wildcats came back and scored four runs in the home half with only two hits.
Dakota Graham scored on a wild pitch and Frank Nigro hit a sacrifice fly for the first two runs. Max Carney tied the game by coming in on a wild pitch before Kendall Small snuck home on another wild pitch in the dirt as well.
Small doubled in the bottom of the third and was able to come home as Kyle Fries kept a ball inside the line in right, taking a 5-3 lead.
But the Chargers started their comeback effort with a two-out RBI double to left in the fifth before taking the lead for good with a three-run seventh inning. Dominican put the game away with four more runs in the top of the ninth, using two hits and two errors in their final at-bat.
Kendall Small went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored while Frank Nigro and Nick Macey each went 2-for-3 in the nightcap.
Up Next:
The 2018 regular season comes to a close on Tuesday afternoon, as the Wildcats head to Millersville for their final nonconference game of the season. Millersville was ranked third in the latest NCBWA Atlantic Region Poll. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.