Felician Athletics - 5/4/08 BASEBALL - 17-Hit Attack Sends Golden Falcons To Playoffs

NEW CASTLE, Del. – Felician College racked up 17 base hits, including 15 in the first five innings, in its 13-4 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference baseball victory over host Wilmington (Del.) University on Sunday afternoon at Wilson Field. With the win, Felician edged out Wilmington on a tiebreaker for the fourth and final spot in next week’s CACC playoffs.

Felician (26-21, 17-10) broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the top of the third inning off of Wilmington starter Steve Messick (New Castle, DE/William Penn) (0-3). When the Wildcats brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom half, the Golden Falcons replaced starter Jeff Calabrese (Freehold, NJ/CBA), who was working on three days’ rest, with fellow right-hander Scott VanEs (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus). VanEs allowed one inherited runner to score before inducing a fly ball to end the inning.

Felician then battered the Wilmington bullpen for nine runs on nine hits over the next two innings for a commanding 13-1 edge. Three consecutive base hits with two on and two out in the fourth, capped by a two-run single from Hector Bello (Miami, FL/Miami Coral Park), plated four runs. Marcos Torres (Miami, FL/South Miami) highlighted the Golden Falcons’ five-run fifth with a two-run double. The Wildcats used four pitchers to get through the fourth and fifth, and eight for the game.

VanEs (3-3) worked through the seventh inning, in the process becoming the first pitcher in Felician history to record 200 career strikeouts. He yielded a solo homerun to Cody Holliday (Havre de Grace, MD/Havre de Grace) in the fifth among three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. VanEs struck out four and walked one.

Torres finished 3 for 6 with two doubles, three runs scored and four RBI to cap off a 7 for 12 performance in the three-game weekend series against the Wildcats. Leadoff man Mickey Zudonyi (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) also had three hits, and Dave Schoer (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) went 2 for 3 with a double, scored three runs and drove in two. Chris Brooks (Manahawkin, NJ/Southern Regional) was 3 for 4 for Wilmington (26-26, 17-10).

Wilmington is the host of the 2008 CACC Tournament. Felician, after completing its regular season on Monday at St. Thomas Aquinas College, will play its first-round playoff game on Thursday at Wilson Field at either noon or 3:30 p.m. against either Philadelphia University or Caldwell College.

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