MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - - The Wilmington University baseball team scored six runs in the top of the 11th inning to break a 3-3 tie and defeat Millersville on the road in another nonconference match-up against a PSAC foe on Tuesday night at Marauder Park.
Wilmington (26-14 overall), which hasn't played since last Wednesday, used seven different pitchers in the game as closer Jordan Oncay pitched three inning to end the game which ended up being the longest outing of the day for any Wildcat pitcher. Millersville (24-21-1 overall) also used a number of arms in the nonconference game, as Jesse Mowen pitched the first four innings for the home team, but eight other Marauders got in on the act throughout the game as well.
Joe Harbach broke the 3-3 tie in the top of the 11th as the Wildcats loaded the bases without recording an out. Harbach took a 0-1 pitch and sent it to the gap in left center, scoring Jonathan Rodriguez and Brendan Fallers with what would be the game-winning runs.
Millersville loaded the bases again intentionally by give Mike Godwin a free pass, and the Wildcats picked up two more runs as Oncay reached on an error by the first baseman, scoring two more runs and the 7-3 lead. Joe Marciano reached on a throwing error by the pitcher one batter later, bringing home another unearned run in the inning. Kyle Hitchens ended the scoring in the inning as he executed the squeeze bunt with a runner on third, as Oncay was plated on the play for the sixth run of the frame.
To get to extra innings, the Wildcats scored single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings, while Millersville responded with a single run in the second and two more in the bottom of the sixth.
Oncay created his own opportunity to score in the top of the second for the game's first run. After walking to lead-off the inning, he moved up to second on a deep fly ball to center field by Bryan Miller, catching the outfielders off-guard. Hitchens plated Oncay in the next at-bat, as he singled into left field.
The senior Oncay created the team's second run of the ball-game in the fourth inning as well, a little less conventional this time around however. He started the inning by reaching on an error by the second baseman and moved up to second as Bryan Miller grounded out to second base. Oncay swiped third on his own, putt him on third with one out. Frank Samluk executed the game's first squeeze bunt play, as he got the bunt down to score Oncay coming in from third.
Oncay was in the mix again in the sixth inning, as he started the rally with a two-out walk after a seven-pitch at-bat. With runners on first and second, Samluk singled to again bring Oncay around to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead at the time.
Typical conference starters Jamie Treml and Dave Hatt split the first four innings for the Wildcats since the team doesn't play another conference game until Sunday. Freshman Ray Gambone pitched 1.2 innings before Rob Gore finished off the sixth inning with an out. Tyler Fries fired a perfect seventh with a strikeout before Nick Marics tossed a perfect eighth on nine pitches.
Oncay improved to 5-0 on the year, starting his outing in the ninth before throwing the final three innings. He allowed four hits and gave up a run for only the second appearance this season, but struck out six Marauders along the way.
Harbach and Hitchens were the only two Wildcats to collect two hits, while Godwin, Samluk, Rodriguez and Fallers each added one hit apiece. Wilmington was out-hit by the Marauders, 9-8, but capitalized on four Millersville errors. Harbach, Samluk and Hitchens knocked in two runners each on the day.
Wilmington returns to action tomorrow, as the Wildcats remain in PSAC mode for one final contest this year. They picked up a game at Shippensburg in place of the two Mansfield rainouts earlier in the season. The team will take to the road and start at 3 p.m. They will get back to CACC action on Sunday at Caldwell.