POMONA, N.Y. - - The bats came alive for the Wilmington University baseball team on Saturday, earning a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference sweep over Dominican, 23-1 and 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at Palisades Park, home of the Rockland Boulders.
Game One:
The bats came alive for the first time since Florida in game one for the Wildcats, knocking out a record breaking 28 hits in the game. That broke the record of 24 hits that the Wildcats collected last season at Concordia in April.
The scoring started in the top of the first inning, as they scored three in the first, one in the second and two more in the third to jump out to a 6-0 lead.
An error scored the first run of the game before Brooks Ryan hit a two-run single to give the Wildcats a 3-0 run before Brad Scull even took the mound. Dan Hyatt added to the lead in the top of the second leading off the inning with a solo shot to right center, his first homer of the season.
With two outs in the third, Frank Nigro hit an RBI single and Dan Hyatt made it 6-0 with another two-out RBI single to left. Brad Scull struck out the side in the bottom of the third, and left two on in the bottom of the fourth. Scull got the first out in the bottom of the fifth, but then was replaced by Rudy Gervolino for the next 3.2 innings.
Three straight two-out hits in the top of the top gave the Wildcats three more runs, getting an RBI double from Eddie Nevins, an RBI double from Brooks Ryan, and an RBI single from Luke Johnson.
But it was an 11-run top of the seventh that separated the Wildcats in game one. Kendall Small double in a run before Eddie Nevins had a two-run single. Luke Johnson hit a sacrifice fly and Dan Hyatt hit another RBI single to go up 14-0. Dakota Graham hit an RBI single before Julian Kurych added an RBI triple. Now with two outs, Nevins had another RBI single before Luke Johnson capped the scoring with another RBI single for the 20-0 lead.
Brock Nowell added a two-out RBI in the top of the eighth before Matt Frost and Quintin Ivy capped the scoring with RBIs in the ninth.
Max Carney, Eddie Nevins, and Luke Johnson all had four hits for the Wildcats while Nevins led the way with four RBI. Brooks Ryan and Dan Hyatt had three hits while Julian Kurych, Quintin Ivy, and Frank Nigro contributed two hits each. Brooks Ryan and Dan Hyatt had three RBI each.
Rudy Gervolino came in and replaced Scull and tossed 3.2 innings, earning his first win of the season. Scull struck out six while Gervolino had five strikeouts and no walks. Danny Sullivan made his collegiate debut and tossed a perfect ninth inning.
Game Two:
Tyler Campbell came out and shut the Chargers (11-8, 4-2 CACC) in game two, earning the CACC sweep for the Wildcats. Campbell pitched 5.1 innings, only allowing one run on four hits and a walk to improve to 1-1 on the year. Zach Frederick came on and picked up two huge outs in the sixth inning before Justin Mears finished off the doubleheader sweep with a clean seventh inning.
The Wildcats' offense was able to keep the momentum from game one in the top of the first, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Kendall Small to give Campbell a 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth as Brooks Ryan brought in three with a three-run bomb to right field for the 4-0 lead.
Eddie Nevins gave the Wildcats a 5-0 lead with an RBI triple to center before Luke Johnson capped the Wildcats' scoring with another RBI single in the inning, 6-0.
Julian Kurych, Kendall Small, Eddie Nevins, and Brooks Ryan all led the Wildcats with two hits each in game two, led by Ryan's three RBI. Nevins and Graham had doubles for the Wildcats in the victory.
Up Next:
The Wildcats remain in CACC play with their next doubleheader, as they host Chestnut Hill on Tuesday afternoon at Wilson Field. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.