Wilmington, DE (5/9/09) Wilmington University clinched the 2009 Central Atlantic  Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Tournament Championship Saturday at Frawley Stadium with a 5-4 victory over top-seeded Dominican College. The Wildcats, who were the No. 3 seed for the tournament, have earned the CACC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament. Dominican, which entered the week as the top-ranked team in the region, will await an at-large bid to the regional. The field will be announced Sunday night.

Dominican took an early 2-0 lead with runs in the first and second inning.  Junior first basemen Tommy Maloney (Massapequa Park, NY) had a one out single through the right side to plate Yordis Veras (East Elmhurst, NY) who was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a Wildcat balk.  In the second left fielder Jason Berrios (Brooklyn, NY) had an RBI single to left field to bring in shortstop Mario Lopez (Anthony, NM), who reached base on a fielder's choice.

The 'Cats rallied with a three-run fourth inning to take a 3-2 lead and added an insurance run in the fifth for a 4-2 lead.  DC added a run in the bottom stanza on a sacrifice fly ball to centerfield by Maloney to score freshman Alexi Colon (Millville, NJ), who hit a one-out single up the middle to get on base.  A run in the sixth on the RBI single up the middle by Berrios knotted the game at 4-4.

Wilmington scored the game winning run in the seventh on an RBI single as they went on to the 5-4 victory to claim the CACC crown.

Sophomore Dominick Ruscitti (Washingtonville, NY) suffered the loss (2-2) in 3 2/3 innings of work, allowing one run on three hits.  Starter Victor Cosme (Brooklyn, NY) went 5 1/3 innings with four runs (two earned) on seven hits.

In the elimination game earlier that day Dominican defeated the fourth-seeded Nyack College Warriors, 7-4.  The Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the first with a run on an RBI sacrifice fly ball to center.

Dominican rallied for two runs in the fifth on the single up the middle by catcher Robert Iglesias (Mays Landing, NJ) which platted two runs as DC took a 2-1 lead.  NC regained the lead with a two-run seventh inning on a double down the left field line.

DC answered back in the bottom of the seventh with three runs as Iglesias brought in a run with a single through the right side and Colon followed with a two-run blast to right field to take a 5-3 lead.

Nyack scored a run in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-4, but the Chargers added a two insurance runs in the bottom stanza as Maloney would score from second on a NC throwing error and a fly ball by Iglesias brought in another run for the final 7-4 DC victory.

Junior Todd Craig (Shenandoah, PA) got the win (7-2) in 7 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and four strikeouts.  Freshman Justin Moore (Wantagh, NY) got his 16th save of the season in 1 1/3 innings after scattering three hits.

Below is the 2009 CACC All-Tournament Team

Mike Godwin, Wilmington - MVP

Phil Aviola, Wilmington

Joe Harris, Wilmington

Cody Holliday, Wilmington

JT Gregory, Wilmington

Robert Iglesias, Dominican

Todd Craig, Dominican

Dan Robinson, Dominican

Phil Messerian, Nyack

Christian Almonte, Nyack

Ricky Maldonado, Bloomfield