NEW CASTLE, Del. - - A pair of outstanding pitching performances came down to one half inning of execution and the second seeded Wilmington University baseball team came away with a 1-0 win over third seeded Dominican as Kyle Hitchens hit a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth on the first day of the double-elimination portion of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament at Wilson Field on Thursday afternoon.

Wilmington (30-16) put the ball in the hand of its work horse Jamie Treml and he carried the load until the offense came around in the bottom of the ninth. Treml dominated the Chargers (26-25), recording a career best 16 strikeouts while throwing all nine innings and only allowing one hit to earn the win.

As Treml continued to set the Chargers down inning after inning and the offense finally broke through with perfect execution of small ball baseball to pick up the win.

Frank Samluk started the bottom of the ninth with a single over heads of the infielders and in front of the right fielder off newly inserted reliever Matt Festa. Brendan Fallers came on to pinch hit and laid down the sacrifice bunt to move Samluk up 90 feet and into scoring position. Before the fans knew what hit them, Kyle Hitchens took the first pitch he saw and put it back up the middle as Samluk was being waived around third.

The throw from the outfield was offline and Samluk went into home safely, chasing the team from the dugout and making a bee-line to Hitchens towards second base for the celebration.

With the win, the Wildcats earn the right to face No. 1 Felician on Friday at 3 p.m. in the winner's bracket of the CACC Tournament. Friday and Saturday will be played at Frawley Stadium, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Single A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals in Wilmington, Del. Felician defeated No. 4 seed Bloomfield, 5-1, in the first game of the day at Wilson Field.

The best chance to score for Dominican came in the first inning, as the Chargers put two runners on after a walk, two strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch. Treml ended the threat without any further damage, however, striking out his third batter of the inning to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Treml struck out the side once again the fifth inning and finally gave up a hit in the top of the sixth inning when Tyler Sadawske singled back up the middle past a diving Hitchens. It would be the only hit the sophomore would give up the rest of the game.

The left-handed starter recorded two more strikeouts in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, none more bigger than the ones in the ninth as he walked the leadoff batter on four pitches in what could have been a disastrous frame. Treml came back and earned a strikeout, a foul out and another strikeout to strand the leadoff walk at first base, leading to the ninth inning rally for the offense.

All seven hits for the Wildcats came from three players, as Joe Harbach went 3-for-4 with a double off Charger starter Ryan Calby. Samluk batted 2-for-3 with the game-winning run while Hitchens finished 2-for-3 with the lone RBI.

Calby was just as strong for the Chargers through eight innings, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out five batters. Calby gave way to Fresta in the ninth, and the Wildcats tagged him for a run on two hits in 0.1 innings.

The Wilmington/Felician matchup follows the loser's bracket game of Dominican and Bloomfield on Friday starting at 12 p.m. The Wildcats dropped both matchups to Felician in the regular season, as the two losses on April 1 were the last two conference losses for Wilmington on the season.