Box Score NORTH WALES, Pa. – Felician University hit three home runs on its way to a 10-2 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference baseball victory over host Chestnut Hill College on Monday evening at Hostelley Field. The game was a makeup from a rainout of the second game of the teams' conference doubleheader on Apr. 14.
With the win, Felician (19-19, 12-8 CACC) secures a berth in next month's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship tournament, as the Golden Falcons can finish no worse than third in the six-team CACC North Division. The triumph was also the 450th victory in the career of Felician head coach Chris Langan.
The game was a scheduled seven-inning contest. Chestnut Hill (18-20, 9-10) was the first team on the scoreboard, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning off Felician senior right-hander Michael Gutierrez (Garfield, N.J.). But freshman designated hitter Luis De La Cruz (Jersey City, N.J.) gave the visitors the lead for good with a three-run home run during the top of the third.
The Golden Falcons broke the game open in the fifth. With one out Felician drew consecutive walks before Levis Aguila (Miramar, Fla.) lined an RBI single up the middle. Senior catcher Shawn Vazquez (Millville, N.J.) launched a three-run home run to center field, and when junior right fielder Chris Fernandez (Boca Raton, Fla.) followed with a blast to nearly the same area, Felician led, 8-2.
The Golden Falcons lifted Gutierrez (3-3) at that point after four innings and 80 pitches. He yielded four hits, struck out four batters and walked three. Freshman righties Mike Caldon (Matawan, N.J.) and Logan Waltz (Hazlet, N.J.) finished up, hooking up for three scoreless frames. Aguila and Vazquez lofted sixth-inning sacrifice flies for the final margin.
Vazquez finished with four RBI and De La Cruz, who was on base three times, scored three runs and drove in three. Aguila, Fernandez and leadoff man Alex Torres (Jackson, N.J.) picked up two hits apiece for Felician, which outhit the Griffins, 11-6.
Felician has qualified for the CACC playoffs for the 10th consecutive year in which they were held, the longest such streak of any Golden Falcon sport. It did not participate in the 2021 conference tournament due to a team quarantine. Langan has spent his entire collegiate head coaching career at Felician, and is now 450-435 in 19 years.
Felician travels to Pomona, N.Y. for a nine-inning CACC contest against Dominican (N.Y.) College on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
