COUGAR BASEBALL

BASEBALL TOPS DOMINICAN TO CLINCH CACC CROWN

5-1-07
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PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Freshman Adric Saxon (Coral Springs, FL/Broward CC), right, hit a single in the bottom of the eighth that brought home fellow freshman Omar Velazquez (Astoria, NY/Long Island City) and broke a 7-7 tie to give the Caldwell College baseball team an 8-7 victory over Dominican College in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game Tuesday afternoon at Smith Field. The win clinches at least a tie of the CACC regular-season title for the Cougars, who are 22-10 overall and 11-4 in the conference. The Chargers drop to 16-16, 7-6 CACC with the loss.

Dominican's Yordis Veras put the Chargers up 1-0 after leading off the game with a home run. The Cougars quickly answered with a home run of their own, as freshman Doug Hilgenberg (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) hit a three-run shot in the bottom of the second. Freshman Raymond Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) also drove in a run in the inning with a single to make it 4-1 Cougars. Dominican cut the deficit to 4-3 with a solo home run by Tom Keegan in the top of the third and an RBI double by Brian Smith in the top of the fourth. But the Cougars had another big inning in the bottom of the fourth, with Hilgenberg, left, leading off with his second homer of the game and third of the season. Later in the fourth, Saxon singled home a pair of runs to lift Caldwell to a 7-3 advantage.

But the defending CACC champion Chargers would not quit, cutting the deficit to 7-5 with Veras' second homer of the day, a two-run shot in the top of the fifth. Then in the seventh, after Jose Escalera plated a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-6 Cougars, Smith was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game at 7-7. Freshman pitcher Robert Casal (Howard Beach, NY/St. Francis Prep) ended the threat, striking out the next batter to keep the game tied.

Casal retired the side in order in the top of the eighth, setting up Saxon's heroics in the bottom half of the inning. Velazquez walked to lead off the inning and later advanced to third on Keelan's one-out double to centerfield. Saxon stepped up and drove in his third run of the day with a single to right for an 8-7 lead. Casal again sat all three batters down in the ninth for his eighth victory of the season.

This is the second time the Cougars have earned at least a share of the CACC regular-season title, as the 2003 squad also finished atop the conference standings that year. Caldwell can wrap up the CACC crown outright with a win over Post University on Friday or a loss by Wilmington College in one of its final two conference games.

The Cougars return to the field on Wednesday, May 2 for a non-conference game with Queens College at Smith Field, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

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