NEW CASTLE, Del. - The Caldwell College baseball team dropped a pair of Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games to Wilmington University, 7-0 and 15-5 Monday afternoon at Wilson Field. The Cougars fall to 14-18 overall and 9-7 in the conference with the losses, while the Wildcats, ranked 12th nationally, are now 29-4, 12-1 CACC.
In the first game, Caldwell struggled to get anything going offensively against Wilmington pitcher Joe Harris. The lefty held the Cougars to just two hits while striking out 14 and walking two in a complete-game shutout. The Wildcats scored two runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings each, and added a single run in the eighth. Junior right-hander Matt Cook (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) went seven innings, giving up six runs, four earned, on nine hits while striking out three and walking five. Junior Joe Doerrer (Middletown, NJ/Raritan) and freshman Andrew Nunez (East Elmhurst, NY/Cardozo) had the hits for Caldwell.
Wilmington took control early in Game 2, opening the game with six runs on two hits, two errors, two walks, two passed balls and a wild pitch. Adam Soley hit a two-run double in the second, and the Wildcats added two more in the third for a 10-0 lead. Caldwell finally broke through in the top of the fourth for its first runs of the day. Junior Jorge Ynoa (Bayside, NY/Bayside) hit a double that scored Doerrer (pictured) and freshman Paul Nyitray (Cranford, NJ/St. Joseph), and freshman Joe O'Donnell (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) doubled home Ynoa to make the score 10-3.
After Wilmington scored a run in the fifth and four more in the seventh, the Cougars scored twice in the eighth. Freshman Phil Ragusa (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then sophomore Anthony Morena (Westbury, NY/Holy Cross) hit a grounder that plated Doerrer. Junior Craig Gourley (Point Pleasant Beach, NJ/Point Pleasant Beach) pitched five innings for Caldwell and took the loss, while Kurt Bruce went seven innings to earn the victory for the Wildcats. Offensively, Doerrer, Nyitray and Ynoa each had two hits in the second game.
Caldwell hosts Felician College on Wednesday, Apr. 20 in a CACC doubleheader. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. at the Kiwanis Oval in Caldwell, N.J.
