NEW CASTLE, Del. - - The Wilmington University baseball team left double figures on the bases in each game on its way to a pair of Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference losses to Concordia, 6-3 and 6-4, snapping its 14 game winning streak in the process, on Saturday at Wilson Field.
The No. 15 Wildcats (27-11, 12-3 CACC) held a 3-2 lead after seven innings of play in the first game, looking to set a new program record with their 15th consecutive victory, but Concordia (14-16-1, 7-5 CACC) had other plans as it tallied a run in the eighth and three in the ninth to steal the game one victory.
Wilmington left 10 runners on base in the first game, collecting seven hits while earning three walks in the loss. Only one of the hits came in the seventh inning or later for the Wildcats. Brandon Payne finished 2-for-4 while five other Wildcats picked up one hit for the home team.
Josh Hampton tied the single season program record with his 20th double of the year, smashing one to the wall in left center in the fifth, scoring Sam Goines from first to tie the game at 2-2. Hampton tied the single-season mark set by Mike Godwin in 2011.
The Wildcats took the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Joe Marciano led off the inning with a double to right center. After two outs were recorded, one at the plate, and looking as though the Clippers were going to escape, the Wildcats were able to scrape a run across as Frank Samluk came home on a wild pitch to give the home team the lead, 3-2.
An error trying to get a runner moving to third in the top of the eighth tied the game at 3-3 before Luis Gonzalez gave the visitors the lead in the ninth with a two out triple to center field, scoring a pair.
The second game was decided in the first and fourth innings, as the Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs but left each inning empty handed. The team left 11 more runners on base in the second game.
Trailing 5-2 in the fifth, Marciano tried to erase the fact of leaving the bases loaded twice, hitting a two run, two out single to right, scoring Goines and Brandon Payne to close the gap. Payne doubled with two outs and the bases empty to start the rally.
But that would be as close as the Wildcats could get in the second game, as the Clippers responded with an insurance run in the seventh for the 6-4 lead.
Wilmington left a runner on second base in the seventh and a runner on first in the eighth, unable to garner any steam in the late innings like it has been able to do time and time again this season.
The Concordia bullpen threw 6.1 combined innings in the doubleheader, only allowing one hit while striking out four in picking up two wins and a save on the day.
Payne went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in game two while Marciano was the only other Wildcat to amass more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with two RBI's. Matt Lopes and Brendan Fallers collected to the other two hits for the Wildcats.
The doubleheader sweep also knocked the Wildcats out of first place in the CACC standings as Dominican swept its doubleheader against Caldwell at Provident Bank Park.
Wilmington has three opportunities to get back to its winning ways this week, first getting a chance to play in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, in the Bill Giles Invitational Championship on Tuesday. The Wildcats will face Philadelphia in a nonconference meeting for the championship. Wilmington has not won the tournament since 2007. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
