Felician Athletics - 5/2/09 BASEBALL - Split Eliminates Baseball From Playoff Contention

NEW CASTLE, Del. -- The Felician College baseball team took a 7-1 lead after three innings of its eventual 8-2 Game 2 victory over host Wilmington (Del.) University during the teams' regular-season ending Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Wilson Field. However, the Golden Falcons' 2-0 Game 1 loss, combined with other conference results later Saturday, eliminated Felician (24-24, 14-13) from the CACC playoff race.

In the nightcap, a scheduled seven-inning contest, Felician received a sacrifice fly from senior Dave Schoer (Manalapan, NJ) in the first inning before taking control with a four-run second. Anthony Spina (Toms River, NJ) sparked the rally with a two-run single to right field, and, one out later, Alex Del Valle (Miami, FL) plated Spina with a triple. Junior Marcos Torres (Miami, FL) followed with an RBI single up the middle.

Felician senior Vinnie DiBenedetti (Forked River, NJ) went 3 for 4 with a double, a solo home run, and three runs scored, and Torres also had three base hits. Jeff Calabrese (Freehold, NJ) (3-5) worked five innings on the mound to earn the victory, allowing one run on six hits. J.T. Gregory (Woodbridge, VA) drove in both runs for Wilmington (24-27, 15-12), scoring Matt Botting (Newark, DE) (2 for 2, double) in the third and seventh.

The Golden Falcons fell victim to a four-hit shutout by Wildcat left-hander Joe Harris (Douglassville, PA) (4-5) in the opener. Harris struck out 12 batters and walked four, and stranded seven Felician baserunners, including two in the top of the ninth. Wilmington scored both of its runs in the sixth inning, bunching three of hits five hits, plus a hit batsman. Matt Umba (West Deptford, NJ) broke the tie with a single to right field and advanced to second on the throw to the plate. One out later, he scored on Mike Godwin's (Hockessin, DE) single through the left side.

Felician left-hander Danny Conti (Aberdeen, NJ) (4-2) was the hard-luck loser, tossing his second consecutive complete game and fourth of the season. Conti had five strikeouts and no walks. Senior Mike Libretta (Staten Island, NY) had a double in each game and Torres went 4 for 9 on the day for the Golden Falcons.

The Golden Falcons were eliminated on Saturday evening when Philadelphia University took a game from Bloomfield College and Nyack College swept a twinbill from Post University, ending Felician's positive tiebreaker scenarios.