Box Score New Castle, Del. - (5/7/2015) – The Chestnut Hill College baseball team brought plenty of lumber with it on this afternoon's trip to New Castle, Delaware for the double-elimination segment of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championship Tournament, pounding out 16 hits and coasting past #2 Post University, 16-3, at Jim Sherman Sr. Stadium's Wilson Field. Four different players collected at least three hits for the #3 Griffins, who batted around in the seventh (six runs) and ninth (five) innings and advanced to face top-seeded host Wilmington University tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with a berth in the championship series on the line. Senior right fielder Michael McLaughlin (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior first baseman Patrick Campion (Norristown, Pa.) drove in three runs each and junior catcher Robert Slagle III (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) smashed a home run among his three hits to head the offensive fireworks as Chestnut Hill College established new program records for runs and hits in a CACC playoff game.
 
Chestnut Hill College (28-12) took advantage of an ill-timed error by Post University (20-17) to stake senior ace Dominic Raia III (Philadelphia, Pa.) to an early cushion. A one-out miscue allowed Campion to reach, and the Griffins made the Eagles pay. Three batters later, McLaughlin laced an RBI single to right field, scoring Campion with the contest's first run before Slagle guided a base hit through the left side for a 2-0 edge. Chestnut Hill College added to the bulge with another two-out rally in the third, Campion's line shot into right bringing home senior third baseman Taylor Steen (New Egypt, N.J.) with the third run, 3-0. After Raia completed his fifth inning of no-hit ball, Slagle blasted a towering shot into the trees beyond the wall in left center, his third homer of the season making it 4-0 Griffins.
 
The Eagles finally got to Raia in the following frame. After a leadoff walk, freshman right fielder Maxime Robillard (Blainville, Quebec) broke up the no-hit bid with a liner to center. After a sacrifice bunt, senior third baseman Dylan Pastor (Hewlett, N.J.) ended the shutout with a run-scoring single, 4-1. But Raia bore down, inducing back-to-back first-pitch groundouts with men on second and third to maintain the three-run lead.
 
Chestnut Hill College busted the contest wide open in the seventh, sending 12 batters to the plate and putting it out of reach with six back-breaking markers. McLaughlin started the outburst with a two-run single back up the middle, 6-1, and an error by the third baseman allowed another Griffin to score, 7-1. Sophomore center fielder Brandon DiBona (Southampton, Pa.) ripped a base hit off the pitcher's glove to make it 8-1, and Campion put an exclamation point on the crooked number with a two-run single into right, 10-1.
 
Junior left fielder Erik Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) answered an RBI fielder's choice by Griffins senior shortstop Preston Koehler (Bath, Pa.) with a two-run blast to left, cutting the lead to 11-3 after eight innings. The scarlet and gold put to bed any thought of an Eagles rally with a five-run ninth, batting around again with the help of multiple Post University miscues. Campion and Craig scored when the Eagles committed two errors on the same play, 13-3, and junior designated hitter Brendan Looby (Sewell, N.J.) punched a base knock into center, his third of the afternoon, to deliver a 14-3 lead. Steen capped the Griffins' parade with a two-run single to right, bringing around sophomore catcher Christopher Demey (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Looby, 16-3. Freshman Patrick Kelley (Pipersville, Pa.) pitched a scoreless ninth to end the Eagles' misery.
 
Raia extended his own single-season school record with his ninth win (9-1); he allowed just two hits and the lone run with four walks and three strikeouts less than two weeks removed from twirling a one-hitter against these same Eagles. McLaughlin (3-for-6, 3 RBI, 1 run), Slagle (3-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 run), DiBona (3-for-5, triple, RBI, run), and Looby (3-for-5, 3 runs, RBI) accounted for 12 of the Griffins' 16 hits on the day. Steen scored twice and drove in two more runs to go with a pair of stolen bases, Campion finished 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI, and junior left fielder Joseph Monaghan (Doylestown, Pa.) doubled and crossed home plate three times. Post University committed four errors in all, and nine of Chestnut Hill College's runs were unearned.
 
Chestnut Hill College can book its ticket to the CACC championship series with a victory against the top-seeded Wildcats tomorrow, Friday, May 8. Should Wilmington University prevail, the Griffins would rematch Post University - who defeated #6 Dominican College (NY), 5-4, in Thursday's elimination game - in a win-or-go-home scenario with the victor marching on to the finals.