Felician Athletics - 5/1/08 BASEBALL - Del Franco Hit Gives Baseball 3-2 Win Over Dominican

ORANGEBURG, N.Y. -- The Felician College baseball team won its third consecutive one-run game when it defeated host Dominican (N.Y.) College, 3-2, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action Thursday afternoon at Veteran's Memorial Park. The result tightens the CACC playoff race, where the top five teams are within 1 1/2 games of each other heading into the season's final weekend, competing for four spots.

On Thursday, sophomore Jon Del Franco (Bridgewater, NJ) drove in the eventual winning run in the top of the eighth inning, and senior Scott VanEs (Secaucus, NJ) recorded the final out with three Chargers on base. VanEs struck out three in two scoreless innings for his third save, preserving the victory for starter Nick Riker (Highlands, NJ) (5-5).

Felician (24-20, 15-9) trailed 2-1 after six innings before scratching a run in the seventh off of Charger starter Tommy Mejia (Brooklyn, NY). The Golden Falcons loaded the bases with one out on a hit batsman, walk, and single. One out later, Anthony Spina (Toms River, NJ) worked a walk to tie the game. The next inning, Del Franco scored Marcos Torres (Miami, FL) from second base with a two-out single off of reliever Andrew Distelhurst (Bardonia, NY) (1-2). It was his second game-winning hit in five days.

Dave Schoer (Manalapan, NJ) went 3 for 3 and scored twice and Vinnie DiBenedetti (Forked River, NJ) was 2 for 4 with an RBI triple for the Golden Falcons. Riker allowed one earned run on four hits and struck out nine batters in seven innings. Robert Iglesias (Mays Landing, NJ) had a pair of hits for the Chargers (23-23, 15-9), and Mejia also gave up four hits and struck out nine in seven innings.

Felician can qualify for the CACC Tournament, without any help, by winning at least 2 of 3 games from Wilmington (Del.) University this weekend.

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