NEW CASTLE, Del. – The Felician College baseball team was unable to put a stop to the winning streak of nationally-ranked Wilmington (Del.) University on Saturday afternoon. Wilmington (25-9, 12-1 CACC) hung on to first place in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference by sweeping a league doubleheader from visiting Felician, 1-0 and 6-2, at Wilson Field.

The Wildcats are ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division II East Region, and No. 22 nationally, according to the most recent writers' polls. They have won 12 consecutive games. Felician juniors Aaron Brill (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Chris Faber (Neptune, N.J.) had a hit in each game, four of the eight safeties the Golden Falcons were limited to on the day.

In Game 1, Felician (10-21, 3-6) fell victim to a three-hit shutout by Wildcat senior right-hander Dave Hatt (Toronto, Canada). Hatt (5-0) struck out nine batters and walked two, and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He threw 79 of 107 pitches for strikes.

Felician senior righty Vic Monteagudo (West Palm Beach, Fla.) (2-4) nearly matched Hatt zero for zero. Lifted after 7 1/3 frames, Monteagudo also yielded three hits. He faltered only in the bottom of the third.

With one out in the home half of the third, Wilmington senior center fielder Jordan Johnson (Baltimore, Md.) doubled down the left field line and stole third base. With the Felician infield in, Monteagudo hit Jon Castro (Wilmington, Del.) with a pitch. Monteagudo induced a pop-up for the second out, but during the next at-bat, Castro took off for second. Felician shortstop Brill cut the ball off in front of second base, but Johnson still beat the throw to the plate for the game's only run.

Felician freshman Scott De Jong (North Haledon, N.J.) broke up the no-hit bid with a line-drive single to center with two outs in the seventh. Hatt faced four batters over the minimum. The Golden Falcons had two runners picked off first base in the contest, including one by catcher Matt Lopes (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) with one out in the ninth. Johnson was 2 for 4 for the Wildcats.

Wilmington broke a 2-2 tie in Game 2 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth off of Golden Falcon sophomore righty Matthew Facendo (Hazlet, N.J.) (4-2). Jonathan Rodriguez (Jersey City, N.J.) produced a two-out RBI single, and teammate Josh Hampton (West Grove, Pa.) followed with a two-run home run.

Trailing 6-2, Felician brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth inning. With two outs, the Golden Falcons sandwiched a Jay Collazo (Wall, N.J.) walk with a pair of infield singles. But after having thrown one pitch to Jordan Tackett (Fredericksburg, Va.), Wilmington reliever Nick Marics (Edison, N.J.) and the Wildcat infield ran another pickoff play successfully, trapping Collazo off second to end the game.

Facendo was tagged with six earned runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. His counterpart for the Wildcats, sophomore righty Frank Samluk (Middletown, Del.) (3-0), worked six frames, limiting the Golden Falcons to three hits while striking out five. Gabriel Fellin (Temple, Pa.) scored the first Felician run and drove in the second, and teammate Mike Farrell (Red Bank, N.J.) had an RBI double.

Lopes hit a solo homer and a sacrifice fly for Wilmington. Johnson produced two hits in each game.

Three of Monteagudo's four losses this season have come by 1-0 scores.

The Golden Falcons conclude a stretch of five consecutive road games when they visit regionally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College on Tuesday at Provident Bank Park.