PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The Caldwell College baseball team wrapped up the regular season with a pair of losses to Wilmington University in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon at Smith Field. The Cougars, who lost 3-1 and 13-1, are now 15-20 overall and 11-9 in conference play, while the Wildcats (28-14, 16-2 CACC) clinched the CACC regular-season title with the wins.
The first game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third, when senior Ray Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) doubled, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by sophomore Jorge Ynoa (Bayside, NY/Bayside) for a 1-0 lead. Caldwell maintained the upper hand behind the pitching of senior Robert Casal (Howard Beach, NY/St. Francis Prep), who held Wilmington scoreless on five hits over the first six innings. In the top of the seventh with two on and two out, Matt Umba hit a single to right that scored J.T. Gregory. Brian Short also came home on the play on a throwing error to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Short scored an insurance run in the ninth inning on a pair of stolen bases and an error for a 3-1 advantage.
Casal went the distance in his final regular-season start for Caldwell, allowing three runs, one earned, on 10 hits while walking three and striking out four. Senior Andrew Robertson (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella) led the Cougar bats with three hits. Joe Harris also pitched a strong game, giving up nine hits and fanning 13 batters in a complete-game victory.
In Game 2, Wilmington scored unearned runs in the first and third innings on three Caldwell errors to take an early 2-0 lead. Singles by Jonathan Rodriguez and Short in the fourth plated two more runs for Wilmington for a 4-0 advantage. The Wildcats broke the game open in the sixth with six runs on four hits and two Caldwell errors to lead 10-0. Eight miscues by the Cougars led to seven unearned runs in the loss, which extended their losing streak to five games.
Senior Doug Hilgenberg (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) led off the bottom of the seventh with his second home run of the season for Caldwell's lone run in the game. Senior right-hander Buddy Riggs (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella) pitched five innings and took the loss, his first defeat since a 1-0 setback against Franklin Pierce on Mar. 13. For Wilmington, Kurt Bruce allowed five hits and one run while striking out nine in a complete-game effort.
Ten seniors played their final regular-season home games. Casal, Hilgenberg, Keelan, Riggs, Robertson, Brian Corsi (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East), Thomas Forkin (Oceanside, NY/Holy Trinity) and Jon Irwin (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) are four-year players who helped the Cougars capture the 2008 CACC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Division II Northeast Region Tournament in 2007 and 2008. The Cougars won a total 92 games during the past four seasons, including a program-best 34 wins in 2008. Seniors Juan Pinero (Bronx, NY/Christopher Columbus) and Miguel Perdomo (Teaneck, NJ/Bergen Catholic) are two-year starters who transferred to Caldwell in 2009.
The Cougars are one of eight teams vying for six spots in the CACC Tournament with regular season games remaining this weekend. The tournament begins with a single-elimination first round on Tuesday, May 4, with the winners advancing to a four-team double-elimination tournament on May 6-9 in Wilmington, Del.
