Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 NEW CASTLE, Del. – Junior left-hander Jason Polgano (Bronx, N.Y.) allowed three hits over six innings and senior right fielder Ronnie Grant (Burlington, N.J.) drove in three runs as Felician University salvaged a split of its non-conference baseball doubleheader with host Wilmington (Del.) University by earning a 6-5 Game 2 victory on Wednesday evening at Wilson Field. Wilmington had triumphed in Game 1, 7-2.
The games were classified as non-conference between the two Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference members. Felician swept a CACC twinbill from the Lightning on Mar. 24 in Lyndhurst, N.J. Wednesday's doubleheader concluded the 2017 regular season for both schools.
Felician is the top seed and Wilmington the No. 2 seed for the upcoming CACC Championship tournament, which gets underway with Saturday's single-elimination playdown round. Wilmington hosts No. 7 Nyack College at 2 p.m. in New Castle, while Felician entertains No. 8 Philadelphia University at 6 p.m. in Lyndhurst.
Felician (33-12) is ranked No. 16 in the most recent national NCAA Division II writers' poll, and is 29th in Collegiate Baseball magazine's national D-II rankings
After Wilmington (28-19) scratched an unearned run off of Polgano (6-2) in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap, a scheduled seven-inning affair, Felician took the lead for good with a pair of unearned scores in the third. Matt Diesel (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) reached on an error with one out and Christian Hoplock (Tinton Falls, N.J.) walked. The pair executed a double-steal before Grant's groundout scored Diesel to tie the game. Brennan Price (Middlesex, N.J.) came up with a first-pitch, go-ahead two-run double.
The Golden Falcons took control with three runs in the fifth. Grant had a two-run single and later scored on Bruce Strickland's (Hazlet, N.J.) squeeze bunt. After Wilmington pulled to within 5-2 with a run in the bottom of the fifth, Felician tacked on what proved to be an important insurance run in the seventh on a Strickland sacrifice fly.
With one out, the Wildcats loaded the bases off of the Felician bullpen with a walk and two hit batsmen. Regan Hidalgo (Hockessin, Del.) delivered a pinch-hit RBI single, and one out later, Wilmington scored twice more on a botched fielder's choice grounder. A wild pitch put the winning run on second base, but Quinn Taylor (Marlton, N.J.) induced a ground ball back to him to end the game.
Polgano struck out three batters and walked two, giving up one earned run. Grant was 2 for 4 and scored twice, and Price finished 2 for 4. Wilmington, with the postseason three days away, used five pitchers in the contest. Dan Hyatt (Newark, Del.) and Kyle Fries (Kennett Square, Pa.) each tripled and scored for the Wildcats.
Each side produced seven hits in Game 1, but Felician, which drew seven walks and was hit by four pitches, left 17 runners on base. The Golden Falcons were the first team on the scoreboard with Price's third-inning RBI single, but Wilmington matched the run in the home half on a Hyatt sacrifice fly.
Wilmington scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings, then broke the game open with a four-run eighth. Leadoff man Rocky Ferrier (Perkasie, Pa.) was 2 for 3 with a double, plus two sacrifices. Freshman lefty Bryce Carney (Bear, Del.) (1-0), the third of seven Wildcat pitchers, was credited with his first career victory.
Grant went 2 for 5 for Felician. Ralph Caccavale (Massapequa, N.Y.) was 2 for 3, including an RBI single in the ninth.
