Felician Athletics - 5/10/07 BASEBALL - Felician Loses First-Round CACC Game, 14-11

NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Despite scoring eight runs in the top of the ninth inning, the Felician College baseball team lost its first-round game in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament to tournament host Wilmington (Del.) College, 14-11, on Thursday afternoon at Wilson Field. Felician will play Caldwell College, a 12-11 first-round loser to Dominican (N.Y.) College, on Friday at noon at Frawley Stadium.

Wilmington's Spike Austin (Townsend, DE) broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fourth inning, giving his team the lead for good. The Wildcats (27-18) chased Felician starter Scott VanEs (Secaucus, NJ) (1-8) with back-to-back homers by Austin and Mike Wilson (Wilmington, DE) to start the sixth, then tacked on six runs in the seventh, capped by a Mike Testa (Wilmington, DE) grand slam, for a 14-3 lead.

Felician (23-25) put its first four runners on base in the ninth, and received three-run homers from Chris Flynn (Keyport, NJ) and Marcos Torres (Miami, FL) later in the inning. Following Torres's blast, Phil Aviola (Newark, DE), the fourth Wildcat pitcher of the inning, got the final two outs.

Wilmington starter Kenny McGrady (Rising Sun, MD) (4-4) was charged with seven earned runs on 11 hits, striking out seven batters in eight-plus innings of work. Austin finished 4 for 5 with four runs and four RBI. VanEs allowed eight runs on 11 hits in five-plus innings with five strikeouts. Dave Schoer (Manalapan, NJ) was 4 for 5 with three doubles for the Golden Falcons.

Should Felician win at noon on Friday, they would play again at approximately 6 p.m. against the Wilmington-Dominican loser.