New Haven, Conn. - (4/29/2015) – Continuing the program's best season to date, the Chestnut Hill College baseball team has qualified for their fifth Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championship Tournament in six seasons with their 15-5 league mark earning the #3 seed and the right to host a CACC Opening Round contest against #6 Felician College on Saturday, May 2. #4 Dominican College will host #5 Concordia College (NY) in the other Opening Round affair while #1 Wilmington University and #2 Post University will await the winners at the CACC Championship Tournament, which is scheduled for Thursday, May 7, and Saturday, May 9, at Wilmington University's Jim Sherman Sr. Stadium (Wilson Field).
Chestnut Hill College (26-10) took two CACC contests from Felician College (19-26, 11-9) on Thursday, April 9, defeating the Golden Falcons on their home field by finals of 6-3 and 5-2. Opportunism was the operative word that day as the Chestnut Hill College baseball team took advantage of a litany of miscues by the defending CACC champions to earn a critical series sweep. The Griffins rode the right arm of senior pitcher
Dominic Raia III (Philadelphia, Pa.) to a 6-3 decision in game one, while four Golden Falcon balks and two ill-timed errors allowed the visitors to steal the nightcap, 5-2, and stretch their winning streak to six games with two runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Despite allowing a mere two hits in six strong innings, junior pitcher
Zachary Crim (Horsham, Pa.) still exited to a 2-1 deficit thanks to Golden Falcon sophomore right fielder Andrew LaMura (Brick, N.J.), who drove in a run with a triple before scoring on the back-end of a double steal, 2-1, in the fourth. The dam finally broke for the Griffins in the top of the eighth, when a one-out infield single by sophomore center fielder
Brandon DiBona (Southampton, Pa.) set the stage for a wild sequence. He advanced to second on a balk, then to third on another after a walk to freshman second baseman
Alec Craig (Hammonton, N.J.). Junior left fielder
Joseph Monaghan (Doylestown, Pa.) plated DiBona (3-for-4) with a two-out infield single, and Craig came around with the go-ahead tally when the shortstop's throw got away, 3-2.
Junior catcher
Robert Slagle III (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) started the ninth with a triple to right center, and senior left fielder
Michael McLaughlin (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored pinch-runner
Demetrius Isaac (Philadelphia, Pa.) with a sacrifice fly, 4-2. Senior shortstop
Preston Koehler (Bath, Pa.) then walked, stole second, and went to third on an errant throw to set up senior third baseman
Taylor Steen (New Egypt, N.J.) for another sacrifice fly, 5-2. Sophomore
Austin DiBonaventure (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) stranded a runner on third in a scoreless seventh to earn the win (3-2), while freshman
Patrick Kelley (Pipersville, Pa.) worked the eighth and senior closer
Vincent Manzella (Matawan, N.J.) navigated a two-on, none-out jam in the ninth to nail down his fourth save.
Aggressive base-running helped the Griffins take advantage of several Felician College miscues in the opener. Junior designated hitter
Brendan Looby (Sewell, N.J.) drew a one-out walk in the fourth, advanced to second on a balk, and came around on a throwing error during an attempted steal, 1-0. The Griffins pushed the envelope in the following frame, when Kelley led off with a single and swiped second. DiBona reached on a fielder's choice, and both runners moved up on a passed ball before a sacrifice fly by Craig and an RBI single off the bat of Steen provided a 3-0 advantage. A single and a wild pitch preceded Looby's run-scoring grounder, 4-0. Two more steals led to two runs in the sixth, helped along by consecutive errors and another wild pitch, 6-0.
Taking a one-hitter into the ninth, Raia finally ran into trouble when a single, walk, and hit batsman loaded the bases with nobody out. A fielder's choice and wild pitch made it 6-2 before Raia surrendered a run-scoring single by freshman third baseman Bruce Strickland (Hazlet, N.J.), which brought the tying run to the plate and chased the Griffin ace. But Manzella needed only one pitch to douse the fire, inducing a game-ending pop-up, 6-3.
Steen and McLaughlin each went 2-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base for Chestnut Hill College in game one, while Looby drew three walks and scored twice. Kelley joined that trio with a stolen base, helping to force Felician College into three errors; the Golden Falcons also had a passed ball and two wild pitches. Raia allowed three hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts, his fourth game with double-digit whiffs, in collecting his 20
th career win (4-1).
2015 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Championship Tournament Itinerary Saturday, May 2 (@ Higher Seed)#6 Felician College at #3 Chestnut Hill College – 2:00 p.m.#5 Concordia College (NY) at #4 Dominican College – 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 7 @ Wilson Field (New Castle, Delaware)Game 1 – 9:00 a.m. - #1 Seed vs. #4/5 Winner
Game 2 – 12:00 p.m. - #2 Seed vs. #3/6 Winner
Game 3 – 3:00 p.m. - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Friday, May 8 @ Wilson Stadium (New Castle, Del.)Game 4 – 11:00 a.m. - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Game 5 – 2:00 p.m. - Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4
Saturday, May 9 @ Wilson Stadium (New Castle, Del.)Game 6 – 11:00 a.m. Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7 – 2:00 p.m. (If Necessary Game)
Sunday, May 10 @ Wilson Stadium (New Castle, Del.) - Rainout Date
