MANCHESTER, N.H. - - The only scoring came in the bottom of the third inning, but it was more than enough as Jamie Treml and the bullpen gave the Wilmington University baseball team a 4-0 win over St. Thomas Aquinas in the teams' first game of the NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament on Thursday night hosted by Southern New Hampshire.
Wilmington (35-9-1 overall) came in as the third seed in the tournament and took on the fourth seeded Spartans (34-16 overall) in closing out the first day of play at Penmen Field.
With the win, the Wildcats move on to face fifth seeded Dowling in the final game of the day on Friday, starting at 4 p.m. Dowling upset second seeded Franklin Pierce, 3-0, behind the complete game shutout by Tyler Badamo.
The key to Thursday night's game for the Wildcats were a pair of defensive stands with Treml on the mound.
In a scoreless game in the top of the second, the Spartans put three of their first four batters on base, loading the bags with only one out in the inning. Treml picked up a short fly out to right field as the runners were unable to advance and a strike out to end the inning and come out unscathed.
Treml then shut the Spartans down in order in the third to bring up a momentum swing in the bottom half in favor of the Wildcats.
Josh Swirchak led off the inning with bloop double down the line in right. Frank Samluk sacrificed Swirchak over before Josh Hampton doubled on a line drive to center field for the game's first run. With runners on first and third, Sam Goines singled to right center to bring home Hampton and give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead still with one out in the inning.
Now with two outs, and runners on the corners, Kyle Lindstrom singled to left to bring in Matt Lopes before Mike Annone singled off the mound and away form the infielders to bring in Goines for the 4-0 lead.
It looked as though the Spartans were going to retaliate in the top of the fourth, loading the bases after Treml picked up a lead off strikeout. But the junior lefty induced another shallow fly out, this time to left for the second out of the inning before getting an infield pop up that he took himself, squeezing the catch for the final out of the inning and leaving the bases loaded.
From there, Treml had fast 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth innings, allowing him to throw into the seventh. Nearing 100 pitches, Treml walked a batter with one out in the inning, but then picked up his fourth strikeout of the game before getting a fielder's choice ground out to end the frame, and his outing.
Nick Maric came on and pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning to keep the shutout in tacked and send the game to the final inning.
Tyler Fries had the first batter reach on a strikeout, passed ball, but that was quickly erased as the closer induced a 3-6-1 double play, getting to the first base bag to cover on the play. Fries then got the final out of the game on a foul out to Samluk at first base, giving the Wildcats the 4-0 win.
It is the third time in program history the Wildcats won game one in the Regional Tournament, defeating Dominican as the sixth seed in 2009, and defeating Le Moyne as the fifth seed in 2012.
Swirchak batted 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored while Lopes went 2-for-4 with a double a run scored. Hampton hit his 19th double of the season in a 1-for-4 night, knocking in the game's first run and scoring another. Goines, Lindstrom, and Mike Annone rounded out the nine hits for the Wildcats on Thursday night.
Treml improved to 9-0 on the season and lowered his season earned run average to 0.96. He gave up five hits in seven innings, striking out four while walking two. The Spartans Matt Kostalos took the loss, tossing seven innings while striking out seven batters, but allowed four runs on eight hits.
St. Thomas Aquinas now moves on to play top seeded Southern New Hampshire at 1 p.m. The Penmen defeated sixth seeded Felician 9-3 to open Thursday's action.
All the action can still be followed live at the NCAA East Region Tournament Central Page, hosted by Southern New Hampshire.
