WILMINGTON, DE - Dominican College has won its second consecutive Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Tournament Championship with two victories today over Felician College in Wilmington, DE. The Chargers entered the day needing to defeat Felician twice to garner the title, and they did so with victories by scores of 13-8 and 13-9 at Frawley Stadium. By virtue of winning the championship, the Chargers have earned the CACC's first automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament. The field for the tournament will be announced on Monday morning.
Today's wins over Felician avenged a tournament-opening 11-9 setback to the Golden Falcons on Thursday. In its final three games of the tournament, Dominican averaged just over 13 runs per-game. In the championship game, Dominican kept the hits coming with a nine-run second inning. Sophomore right-fielder Sean Brown started things with a two-run triple and junior 1B Jose Escalera and senior designated hitter Chad Duesler both added two-run doubles in the inning.
Despite trailing, 13-1, entering the top of the eighth inning, Felician made things interesting by scoring eight runs in the frame. Senior catcher Mike Rooth started things with a two-run single and junior 1B Frank Quintana, junior right-fielder Ray Rose, senior 2B Alex Noguera and freshman right-fielder Vin DiBenedetti all recorded RBI's in the inning. Felician added two more runs on wild pitches. However, Dominican relief pitcher Michael Mondesir entered the game and recorded the final four outs to shut the door.
Charger freshman right-hander Nick Schreiber impressed in his first collegiate postseason appearance and did not allow a Felician base hit until the eighth inning. He hurled 7.0 innings and allowed four hits and five runs. Tournament MVP, freshman shortstop Jose Made, went 1-for-3 with two runs and an RBI and finished the tournament with 10 runs batted in and a .450 (9-for-20) batting average. Brown finished 2-for-3 and knocked in four runs, while Escalera finished 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBI.
In the first game of the day, Felician jumped on top, 1-0, in the top of the first frame on a Rooth RBI double, plating junior CF Kenny Vanderhee. The lead was short-lived as Dominican scored seven runs on four hits and three Golden Falcon errors in the bottom of the inning. Made, senior CF Eliezer Nunez and senior DH Chad Duesler all provided RBI hits in the inning.
Felician came back with three runs in the top of the fourth to close to within three, 7-4. Rooth led off with another double and scored on a Quintana single. Felician added two more runs via a Dominican throwing error.
Dominican pulled away thanks to a Made triple in the bottom of the fifth frame, which drove in three runs, making the score 11-4.
Freshman right-hander Armando Tavarez earned the win and improved to 5-2 on the season. He worked 7.0 innings and allowed five runs and fanned two. Made led the Chargers by going 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBI, including two triples, while Duesler also went 3-for-4 and added three runs and two RBI. Rooth went 5-for-5 for the Golden Falcons with three doubles, two runs and two RBI and Quintana finished 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI.
The full tournament results and All-Tournament team are below.
Thursday, May 11
Game 1: #3 Bloomfield 6, #2 Wilmington 4
Game 2: #4 Felician 11, #1 Dominican 9
Friday, May 12
Game 3: Dominican 2, Wilmington 1
Game 4: Felician 7, Bloomfield 6
Game 5: Dominican 15, Bloomfield 0
Saturday, May 13
Game 6: Dominican 13, Felician 8
Game 7: Dominican 13, Felician 9
All-Tournament Team
Jose Made, Dominican-MVP
Mike Zani, Dominican
Joe Catanese, Dominican
Matt Dilgen, Dominican
Keith Gebert, Dominican
Mike Rooth, Felician
Frank Quintana, Felician
John Tingos, Felician
Matt Dutch, Bloomfield
Joe O'Donnell, Bloomfield
Kenny McGrady, Wilmington