WILMINGTON, Del. - - A bases clearing triple by BJ Janney gave the Wilmington University baseball team its first lead in the seventh inning as the Wildcats went on to post a 4-2 win over No. 1 seed Felician in the winners bracket game of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at Frawley Stadium.
Wilmington (31-16) scored all four runs in the inning, coming back from a 2-0 hole to advance to its second straight CACC Tournament Championship game as the second seed in the tournament. Felician (26-23) falls to the losers' bracket and plays No. 3 Dominican with the chance to advance to the finals on Saturday in the double elimination tournament.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the top of the seventh and only accounting for one hit off Golden Falcon starter DJ Stinsman, the Wildcats scored all the runs they would need with two swings. Frank Samluk walked, Kyle Hitchens singled and Jonathan Rodriguez walked to load the bases with one out. Following a trip to the mound, Janney took the first pitch he saw and sent it into the gap in left center, deep enough to score all three runs for the 3-2 lead.
Now with two outs and two pitchers later, Mike Godwin took the first pitch he saw from Chet Godrey and delivered a single over the head of an outstretched shortstop to score Janney and make it 4-2.
Wildcat starter Dave Hatt took the lead into the bottom of the seventh and did not squander the lead. He got the leadoff batter out before hitting a batter to put a runner on with one out. But Hatt buckled down and got back-to-back ground outs back to the pitcher to get out of the inning and keep the 4-2 lead.
Nick Marics came on in relief to start the eighth and quickly got the first two batters of the inning out. But a pair of errors extended the inning and allowed Felician to put runners on second and third with a chance to tie the ball game. Head coach Brian August wasted little time in going to his closer Jordan Oncay, and Oncay delivered as he induced a ground out to second with the second pitch of his appearance.
Looking for the four out save, Oncay came back out in the ninth and quickly got the first two batters out of the inning. After allowing a two out single, Oncay got pinch hitter Chris Ayala swinging to end the game.
Felician got on the bored first with a single run in the bottom of the first inning and took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. The Falcons could only muster four hits through their final five at-bats after scoring their second run.
The Wildcats were outhit 8-5 on the afternoon, but came up big when it mattered most. Janney, Godwin, Brandon Payne, Hitchens and Rodriguez each registered a hit for the Wildcats.
Hatt improved to 5-1 on the season after allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings. He recorded two strikeouts while giving up two walks. Oncay recorded his 10th save of the season after entering with two outs in the eighth.
It is the second straight year the Wildcats have come into the CACC Tournament as the second seed and advanced to the title game with two straight wins. The Wildcats need to win one out of a possible two games on Saturday to win back-to-back championships for the first time in program history. The first pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 11 a.m.