Brett Walmsley's Walk-Off Homer Video at Bottom of Page
Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
WALTHAM, Mass. - - As he's done so many times this season, Brett Walmsley played the hero on Friday for the Wilmington University baseball team, sending them to the next round of the NCAA East Region Tournament with a three-run walk-off homer to top Goldey-Beacom, 6-3, at Robert DeFelice Field on the campus of Bentley University.
The win was Wilmington's 40th of the year, marking the third time the feat has been achieved in program history (2013 & 2019). The Wildcats have gotten hot at the right time, carrying their 5-0 CACC Tournament run into the regional for a six-game winning streak.
Wilmington had to play from behind almost the entire game after Goldey went up 2-0 in the top of the first, with the Lightning plating their runs on an RBI single and a wild pitch. Making up the deficit was no easy task for the Wildcats, as they had to face First-Team All-CACCer Connor Blence on the bump for Goldey-Beacom. Things got off to a good start after D'Angelo Ponce singled and Tyler Pirrung walked to begin the home half of the first, but Blence then retired 12 straight Wildcats over the next four innings to shut down Wilmington's potent offense.
The next chance for the Wildcats came in the bottom of the fifth when Cam Trego was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, but Blence locked right back in and retired the next three to strand Trego at second.
On the defensive side of the ball, things got messy for Chase Fleming in the top of the sixth, who had gone blow for blow with Blence to retire 13 straight dating back to the final out of the first. The Lightning jumped Fleming for a double, single, and a run-scoring fielder's choice in six pitches, growing their lead to 3-0. A walk and a double steal put runners on second and third with one out, but Fleming did an excellent job wiggling out of the jam with a backwards K and a popup to short to kill the threat.
Blence finally started showing some cracks in the bottom of the sixth, with Brian Klumpp ripping a two-out solo homer off him to make it 3-1. The Wildcats were able to load the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and an infield single, but a Zach Frame groundout got Goldey out of it.
The Wildcats threatened again in the seventh after Garrett Quinn doubled to right center with one away, but Pirrung hit into an unfortunate 5-3 double play with runners on first and second to end the inning.
The Lightning then made the mistake of leaving Blence in for the eighth, where he was greeted with a leadoff single by Klumpp and a walk by MJ Phillips, both on 3-2 counts. Brett Walmsley laid down a sac bunt to move them each up a base, and a groundout by Trego brought home Klumpp to make it 3-2. Then came redemption for Frame, who, after grounding out with the bases loaded in the sixth, smoked a double into the gap to tie things up at three and finally knock Blence out of the game at 127 pitches.
In the top of the ninth, Scott Borgmann was Scott Borgmann, coming on to set the Lightning down 1-2-3 with a pair of punchouts. That set the table for ninth-inning dramatics, which was started by Ponce with a leadoff single. Pirring followed with a single of his own and then stole second, putting two in scoring position with nobody out. Klumpp went down swinging for the first out, and then Brayden Hostetter was cut down at home on an unsuccessful squeeze bunt with the infield drawn in for out number two.
One Brett Walmsley stood in the way of extra innings, however, and with the game on the line, the CACC's First-Team catcher swatted a walk-off homer just over the right field fence to send the Wildcats on to Saturday in a frenzy.
Walmsley went 2-4 on the day, also singling and walking. Ponce went 2-4 with a pair of singles, and Klumpp went 2-5 with a homer and two runs scored as the only other two Wildcats with multi-hit efforts. Frame and Quinn both doubled, and Pirrung and Trego swiped a bag each.
Chase Fleming was excellent on the mound, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits with two walks. He struck out 12 batters in his seven innings of work, easily outdoing the career-high of nine he hit twice this year. In his two playoff starts, he's covered 13.2 innings and struck out 21 while allowing just 12 baserunners. Ryan Kiendle and Scott Borgmann teamed up for the eighth and ninth, with Kiendle punching out one and Borgmann two.
Goldey-Beacom's loss sent them to a matchup with top-seeded Bentley, where they lost 11-2. That tees up a best-of-three series between the Wildcats and Falcons, which will begin tomorrow afternoon at 3:20 p.m. There will be one game tomorrow, and then the second game of the set will be played at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. If the teams split the first two, a decisive third game will be played later on Sunday to determine who moves on to the East Super Regional.