CALDWELL AND DOMINICAN ADVANCE TO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND OF CACC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 10, 2008

NEW CASTLE, DE--No. 2 Caldwell College and No. 3 Dominican College have advanced to the championship round of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Tournament with victories today at Wilmington's Wilson Field. Caldwell upended top seeded Philadelphia, 2-0, and Dominican followed with a 7-1 win over the Rams to eliminate Philadelphia from the double-elimination tournament. Caldwell, by virtue of going 2-0 thus far, needs to beat Dominican just once to earn the championship, while the Chargers will have to beat Caldwell twice to claim the title.

Robert Casal, the 2008 CACC Pitcher of the Year, lived up to his billing with a 3-hit shutout of Philadelphia at Frawley Stadium in the first contest of the day. He was throwing a 1-hitter entering the ninth, but the Rams came up with two hits in the final frame to add some drama to the contest. However, Casal got out of the jam to preserve the shutout. Both of Caldwell's runs were scored by senior DH Tommy Murphy, and he was driven home both times by senior catcher Chris Chiarappa. The duo combined to score in the first inning and again in the third.

After giving up the two early runs, Ram junior righty Kyle Noonan settled down and held his own against Casal. Noonan went the distance and allowed only six hits to go with five strikeouts. Casal gave up three hits and fanned seven to improve to 8-4 this season. Caldwell improves to 31-17 overall.

Dominican (28-24) followed with a convincing win 7-1 win over Philadelphia behind a complete game from freshman right-hander Tom Kahl. In his first CACC Tournament appearance, Kahl allowed only six hits and one run along with seven strikeouts. The third, fourth and fifth hitters in the Charger line-up did the damage at the plate, as Sean Brown, Tom Maloney and Mike Munoz combined to go 7-for-13 with three runs and five RBI.

Philadelphia concludes the season with a 22-22 record.

Caldwell and Dominican will play at 10:00 am tomorrow at Wilson Field, with a second game to follow if necessary. The tournament schedule is listed below.

Thursday May 8th--at Frawley Stadium

Game 1 #2 Caldwell 6, #3 Dominican 5 (10 innings)

Game 2 #1 Philadelphia 13, #4 Felician 0

Game 3 Dominican 7, Felician 1

Saturday, May 10th--at Wilson Stadium

Game 4 Caldwell 2, Philadelphia 0

Game 5 Dominican 7, Philadelphia 1

Sunday, May 11th--at Wilson Stadium

Game 6 Caldwell vs. Dominican 10:00 am

Game 7 If Necessary Game 1:00 pm