MANCHESTER, N.H. - - The ferocious pitching attack that dominated the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament continued for the Wilmington University baseball team as it took down second seed Le Moyne, 1-0, in 10 innings in the first round of the NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament at Penmen Field on the campus of Southern New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon.
The fifth seeded Wildcats (33-16) continued to pour on the pitching as Jamie Treml, Nick Marics and Jordan Oncay helped Wilmington to its third 1-0 win in its past four games. Le Moyne (40-14-1), winners of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament, falls to the losers' bracket of the double-elimination, six-team regional.
Dueling back and forth for eight innings, Wildcats starter Treml and Dolphins' starter Mark Kuzma only allowed seven combined hits, no runs, and struck out nine batters. Kuzma stayed on to pitch all 10 innings for Le Moyne while the Wildcats went to its tough back-end of its bullpen to close the door. Marics came on to start the ninth and recorded the first out of the inning before turning it over to Oncay who went the remaining 1.2 innings for the win.
Wilmington left two on in the fourth and one on in the sixth, but that was all the offense it could muster in the first nine innings. But as the pitching staff kept the Wildcats in the game, the offense came around in the 10th.
After the first two outs were recorded in the inning, Frank Samluk was the spark for the Wildcats as he reached base on a fielding error by the second baseman. Jordan Johnson, returning during the CACC Tournament after missing six weeks due to a hand injury, put Samluk in scoring position with a single through the left side. Fallers, a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth, stepped in for his first at-bat of the game and delivered a single to left field, scoring Samluk from second base.
That unearned run was more than enough for Oncay, who struck out the leadoff man in the bottom of the 10th, and got the second out on a groundout. Following a two-out infield single, Oncay induced a game ending infield pop-up to send the Wildcats into the winners' bracket.
BJ Janney led the Wildcats with two hits, going 2-for-4 with a double. Mike Godwin, Johnson and Fallers collected the remaining three hits for Wilmington. Oncay improved to 6-0 with the win while the Dolphins' Kuzma falls to 6-2 on the year with the loss.
Wilmington moves on to play No. 3 Franklin Pierce on Friday at 7 p.m. after Franklin Pierce defeated No. 4 Saint Anselm 3-0 in the night cap on day one. Host and No. 1 seed Southern New Hampshire defeated No. 6 Dowling, 3-0, to kick start the day's action on Thursday.
Le Moyne will play Dowling in the losers' bracket on Friday starting at 11 a.m. with the loser being eliminated from the regional tournament. Southern New Hampshire battles crosstown and conference rival Saint Anselm in the days' second game starting approximately at 3 p.m. Wilmington and Franklin Pierce cap the day with the third game starting approximately at 7 p.m. at Penmen Field.