PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - Jordan Oncay got the ball rolling for the Wilmington University baseball team in the first inning and slammed the door shut in the eighth and ninth innings to power the Wildcats past Philadelphia, 9-3, securing second place and a first round bye in the upcoming Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament.
With the win, the Wildcats (29-16, 14-6 CACC) remain one game ahead of Bloomfield in the standings and in second place. The top two teams (Felician) receive first round byes in the six-team CACC Tournament which begins May 8 for the four lower seeds. The double elimination portion of the tournament begins May 10 with two games at Wilson Field. The final two days move over to Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Justin DeLong continued his strong end of the year push, as he tossed 7.2 strong innings at Philadelphia, giving up three runs (one earned) with nine strikeouts. He picked up his team leading seventh win on the season. DeLong is now 7-2 on the season, tied with three others for the most wins in the CACC.
Oncay bookended the game with his bat and then with his arm, making sure the Wildcats came away with the number two seed. To lead off the game, Oncay smacked a one-out double to center field, scoring both BJ Janney (leadoff single) and Joe Harbach (hit by pitch), setting the tone for the contest. Frank Samluk made it 3-0 in the top of the first with another double to center field, allowing Oncay to trot home easily.
DeLong got out of the first after a leadoff error, but still only faced the minimum as he picked off the runner at second to end the inning. He then shut the Rams (11-33, 5-13 CACC) down in order in the second to bring the bats back to the plate.
With two outs and Mike Godwin on second after a walk and a balk, Samluk came through again as he singled back up the middle for his second RBI of the day.
The Rams got to DeLong in the fifth however, scoring two runs after retiring the first two batters of the inning. Philadelphia capitalized on two Wilmington errors in the inning to cut the lead in half, 4-2, after five complete.
But the Wildcats retaliated and took all the momentum back in the ball game with a three run sixth inning. The inning started with a Jonathan Rodriguez double down the left field line and an RBI single by Janney for the first run. Now on third, Janney scored on a passed ball to make it 6-2 before Godwin came around to score on an RBI fielder's choice by Samluk with the bases loaded.
DeLong pitched into the eighth inning, but ran into trouble as his pitch count rose above 100. After getting two outs in the first three batters, DeLong gave up a single through the right side to put two runners on. The Rams' Jordan Force took a 3-1 pitch down the left field line for a double, scoring Kyle DeGennaro for the innings only run.
Two batters later with the bases loaded, Oncay came on got the final out of the inning retiring TJ Burgmann on the first pitch. After the Wildcats added two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth, Oncay shut down the Rams in order, recording two strikeouts in the bottom half to close out the regular season and the number two seed. Oncay earned his league leading ninth save after getting out of the eighth inning jam.
Janney led all hitters by going 4-for-6 with one of the Wildcats' five doubles on the afternoon. He added two RBI's and two runs scored, moving his average back to .400 on the year. Harbach batted 1-for-4 to end the regular season with a team leading .404 average, also tops in the CACC. Samluk and Adam Soley also picked up two hits apiece for the Wildcats while Samluk led all hitters with three RBI's.
Wilmington, also last season's number two seed before going on and winning the CACC Tournament and the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament, will begin its title defense on Thursday, May 10. A time and an opponent is yet to be determined.