Strong Pitching Performances Lead Both Felician & WilmU to Winners Bracket of 2018 CACC Baseball Championship

Strong Pitching Performances Lead Both Felician & WilmU to Winners Bracket of 2018 CACC Baseball Championship

OFFICIAL PHOTO GALLERY OF 2018 CACC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP


WATERBURY, Conn. (May 10, 2018) -- A pair of strong performances by starting pitchers Michael Gutierrez and Brad Scull keyed both Felician University's and Wilmington University's efforts in their day one wins Thursday in the double-elimination portion of the 2018 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Championship at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Conn.

Gutierrez struck out nine and scattered a pair of hits over six shutout innings to lead Felician (South #1 Seed) to a 12-0 win over Dominican College (North #2 Seed), while Scull tossed a complete-game, six hitter with 10 strikeouts to guide WilmU (South #2) to a 5-0 triumph over Post University (North #1). With the wins, the top-two seeds from the South Division will meet in Friday's winners bracket at 12 p.m. at Municipal Stadium. Friday's winner will advance to the Championship Final on Saturday, while the loser will have to stick around for a 3 p.m. tilt with Post in an elimination contest. Post was able to keep its season alive in Thursday's nightcap, as the Eagles rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to pull out an 8-3 victory over Dominican College.

GAME 1: FELICIAN 12, DOMINICAN 0  l  Boxscore
While Gutierrez was dealing on the mound, Felician's lineup erupted for nine runs over the first two innings to take a 9-0 advantage and never look back. Six Golden Falcons had an RBI with four collecting multiple runs knocked in. Bruce Strickland, Matt Diesel, Rahul Prince and Danny Healy Jr. each drove in a pair of runs to highlight the 12-run, 10-hit effort by Felician.

Diesel went 2-for-3 at the dish with a trio of runs scored as well. He reached base in four of his five plate appearances, as he drew a pair of walks as well. Prince, too, reached in four of his five appearances at the dish, as he was 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Nick Nardulli and Tanner DeLucia combined to pitch a pair of scoreless innings in relief, as the two relievers along with Gutierrez limited the Chargers to just four hits for the contest. Gutierrez got the win and improved to 4-4 for the year.

GAME 2: WILMINGTON 5, POST 0  l  Boxscore
Scull improved to 9-2 on the season following his masterful start. He scattered six hits over his nine innings of work, and the only threat Post could muster was a double by Matt Goehrig. He threw 104 pitches for his outing and got 75 over for strikes.

Wildcat lead-off hitter Brooks Ryan drove in a pair of runs, while joining with teammate Nick Grant to have a double apiece. Kendall Small was 3-for-4 at the dish with a run scored to aid in the offensive outburst for Wilmington. Dakota Graham and Nick Macey added an RBI apiece. Wilmington plated a pair of runs in the second inning, tacked on another in the fourth and pushed two more across in the sixth.

GAME 3: POST 8, DOMINICAN 3  l  Boxscore
Anthony Bartolomei had a RBI single in both the first and third innings to kick start Dominican's lineup, and Corey Pic retired the first six batters he faced on just 22 pitches, but it was all Post from there.

Eagles starting pitcher Nick Arnold struggled with some command issues early, but settled down and yielded just one more run over the next four innings. While Arnold was limiting Dominican's lineup, the bats got going for Post as they scored a combined seven runs from the third to sixth innings -- including three in the fourth -- to take a 7-2 lead. Danny Di Marzo was 1-for-3 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored, while Mike Lisinicchia came on in a reservle role to go 3-for-4 with two runs driven in. Brendon Emigholz reached base in three of his four plate appearances, as he was 1-for-2 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored.

Arnold struck out seven and walked just one to earn the win and improve to 9-2 on the campaign. Brett Pisaneschi pitched two hitless innings of relief to close out the victory for Post.


ABOUT THE CACC
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University), Nyack College, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.