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NEW CASTLE, Del. - - The Wilmington University baseball team has a stranglehold on the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference now, sitting three games up with four to play after a doubleheader sweep of crosstown rival Goldey-Beacom, 10-4 and 5-0, on Wednesday afternoon at Wilson Field.
The Wildcats rode the strong arms of Chase Fleming and Garrett Quinn to the sweep, as the starters collected 17 of the team's 20 punchouts on the day.
With the sweep, the Wildcats are now 31-14 overall, moving to 22-7 in conference play. The Wildcats are now three games clear of Goldey-Beacom and Jefferson who are tied in second place with a 19-10 CACC record with four games to play in the regular season.
GAME 1:
Chase Fleming was in control in the opener, taking an early lead and never looking back. He improved to 6-1 on the year after going seven innings with nine strikeouts while only allowing four runs on two homers.
The offense scored eight runs in its first four at bats, giving all the support Fleming would need. D'Angelo Ponce started the first with a leadoff double and quickly scored as Tyler Pirrung singled him home. A two-out bases empty hit by pitch in the second led to a Garrett Quinn RBI single, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs in the third and ended up scoring three runs. Zach Frame brought in a run with an RBI groundout and then the Lightning tried to pick off a runner at second and Brian Klumpp snuck home from third with the stolen base. Cam Trego then hit a two-out RBI to make it 5-0.
Another two-out rally led to three runs in the fourth. Tyler Pirrung started the rally with two outs and no outs with a single. Klumpp followed with a single and then Brett Walmsley made it hurt with a three-run homer to left center to make it 8-0.
Goldey-Beacom got on the board with a two-out three-run homer of its own in the fifth inning, but then Brett Walmsley got a run back with an RBI double in the sixth. The teams then traded solo homers in the top of the seventh and bottom of the eighth, with Walmsley hitting his second of the game to give the Wildcats a 10-4 lead.
Yoshi Conti got the first out of the eighth and then John Grybowski finished off the game with the final 1.2 innings, striking out a pair.
Brett Walmsley finished 4-for-5 with five RBI while Tyler Pirrung went 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
GAME 2:
The top of the first was the toughest for Garrett Quinn, but once he got through the start and settled in, the Lightning were shut down.
The Lightning loaded the bases with two outs, but Quinn induced a pop up back to himself to get out of the jam.
The bats then gave Quinn all he would need for the game in the bottom of the first. D'Angelo Ponce scored the first run and then Chase Fleming scored on a rocket ground out by Cam Trego.
Brett Walmsley added his sixth RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly in the third and then Brian Klumpp hit an RBI double into the right field corner before Stephen Katch added a two-out RBI single up the middle to cap the scoring, 5-0.
Garrett Quinn went 6.0 inning with eight strikeouts, allowing three hits and two walks for the win. He is now 4-0 on the year. Dylan Potero finished off the shutout with a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.
Brian Klumpp went 3-for-3 with two doubles, finishing as the only Wildcat with double digit hits.
UP NEXT:
The Wildcats shift CACC series to Georgian Court over the weekend, with the doubleheader games being moved up to Friday afternoon. The first pitch of the doubleheader is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Jackson Justice Complex.