MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - - The Wilmington University baseball team had plenty of opportunities to put D'Youville away, but the Saints hung around and capitalized in extra innings, winning the game on the Polo Grounds, 5-4, at the Ripken Experience on Saturday night.
The storms finally cleared and allowed the Wildcats and Saint to play on Saturday night, but the Wildcats left 12 runners on base with eight hits and committed five errors in the loss.
Brandon Grygo started the bottom of the first with a bang, hitting a leadoff homer to right field for his first round-tripper of the year. But that is all the scoring the Wildcats would do until a comeback bid in the 10th inning.
A double and three walks allowed the Saints to tie the game in the top of the fourth inning, and the Wildcats left one runner on in each of the first five innings. The Wildcats had first and second with one out in the sixth but couldn't move the runners. A leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh was left on third base, and then the Wildcats put their first two on in the eighth but again couldn't move them around.
Tre Villanova was hit by a pitch to start the ninth and was standing on second after a wild pitch. Garrett Quinn put down a bunt, and the Saints went to third. Villanova was ahead of the tag but slid past the base as the Saints tagged him out. The Wildcats eventually loaded the bases with two outs but again couldn't score to send the game into extra innings.
The Saints took the lead with a one out walk and a two-run homer. They would score two more on an error, taking a 5-1 lead.
The Wildcats didn't roll over, though, getting a one-out single from Cam Trego and a two-run bomb from Brian Klumpp to cut into the deficit. Pinch hitter Ryan Kiendle took the first pitch he saw deep to left to make it 5-4, but that's as close as the Wildcats could get, as a ground ball ended the game.
Chase Fleming went the first four innings on the mound with seven strikeouts in the no-decision. Dylan Potero pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts while Charlie Porter also pitched two scoreless frames. Cam Trego was the only Wildcat with multiple hits in the game.
The Wildcats have one more game in Myrtle Beach before returning north. They will play Southern Connecticut State starting at 9:00 am on Sunday morning.
