LANTANA, Fla. - - The Wilmington University baseball team fell behind early and could never recover, falling to Southern New Hampshire, 12-1, on Thursday night at the Santa Luces Sports Complex on the third day of the Wildcats' Spring Break trip to Florida.
The game was originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m. but rain forced the start back to 3 p.m., and again delayed the game before the teams threw the first pitch at 5 p.m.
Southern New Hampshire, the team with the second most votes outside the top 25 in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association national poll and right above Wilmington in third in the NCBWA East Regional poll, improved to 12-0 on the year by jumping on the Wildcats (4-3) in the first third of the game.
The Penmen wasted little time as they raced out to a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning. Brendan O'Brien led off the inning with a single, and advanced to third on an Al Stanton single two batters later. Stanton took off for second and the Penmen executed a double steal for the games' first run. Matt Boulter followed with an RBI double off Wildcat starter Mike Godwin to make it 2-0 and a Jamie Wollerman single two batters later moved it to 3-0 before Wilmington came to bat.
BJ Janney and Joe Harbach attempted to get the Wildcats rolling in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single and a walk to put two runners on with one out, but Penmen starter Tim Flight was able to get out of the inning by inducing an inning ending double play.
Southern New Hampshire tacked on two more runs in the third inning, scoring on a sacrifice fly after a leadoff triple and again on another first and third play as Jon Minucci was picked off at first, but not before allowing the runner from third to score.
The Wildcats mounted a rally in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases without recording an out. In what could have been a big inning to cut into the 5-0 deficit, the Wildcats only scratched one run across as Flight worked out of the jam.
Jordan Oncay walked and moved to third on Jonathan Rodriguez single and a fielding error by the shortstop. Brandon Payne loaded the bases with another walk, but Flight notched two strikeouts to regain control of the inning. Janney followed with an RBI single, scoring Oncay from third, but that is all the Wildcats would get in the inning.
Southern New Hampshire added four more runs in the seventh and three more in the ninth off the Wildcat bullpen to round out the scoring.
The Wildcats banged out 10 hits on the afternoon, but left 12 people on base, unable to record the big run scoring hit.
Godwin was saddled with the loss in his first start of the year, giving up five runs on nine hits in five innings of work. Dave Hatt threw a scoring sixth, but Tyler Fries was touched for four runs on four hits in a third of an inning in the seventh. Nick Marics came on to finish the inning before Frank Samluk threw a perfect eighth. James Fallers finished off the game for the Wildcats, allowing three runs on one run in the ninth.
The Penmen's Flight picked up the victory, throwing six innings with eight strikeouts. He gave up six hits, allowing one run.
Janney led all hitters with four hits on the day, knocking in the only run for the 'Cats. Rodriguez added two hits for the game while Matt Lopes, Harbach, Bryan Miller, and Kyle Hitchens each added a hit apiece to round out the marks. Harbach and Rodriguez each tallied a double for the team's lone extra-base hits.
The Wildcats return to action on Friday as they play their second East Regionally ranked team in as many days. They will face NCBWA East Region No. 10 UMass-Lowell under the lights at the Santa Luces Sports Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.