Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – Josh Hampton's home run to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning lifted top-seeded Wilmington (Del.) University to a 2-1 win over No. 4 seed Southern New Hampshire University in an elimination game of the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship East Regional Sunday afternoon at Penmen Field. Wilmington improves to 43-13 and advanced to face No. 6 seed Franklin Pierce University in the title game Sunday afternoon, while the Penmen see their season come to a close at 35-19.
In the bottom of the 10th, Hampton took the first pitch he saw from Penmen reliever Alex Powers (Brewster, Mass.) and belted it into the bullpen in left field to advance the Wildcats.
Southern New Hampshire, trailing 1-0 entering the ninth and playing as the visiting team, tied the game up with one away when designated hitter Al Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) belted a home run to the gap in right-center, his first of the season.
Wilmington grabbed the game's first run in the bottom of the sixth. Hampton reached on an error and after moving to second on a wild pitch, scored on a two-out single up the middle by Ray Giones.
SNHU's best chance to stake itself to an early lead came in the fifth inning. Jon Minucci (Madison, Conn.) reached on an error to lead off the frame, then Riley Palmer (Goffstown, N.H.) walked. The bases became loaded when Wilmington pitcher Rob Gore attempted to get Minucci at third on Bryan Toland's (Wildwood, N.J.) sac bunt attempt, but Minucci was safe. Wilmington got out of the jam by striking out Zach Goldstein (Merrick, N.Y.), followed by a 1-2-3 double play grounded into by Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.).
Gore and a trio of Wilmington relievers kept the Penmen off balance much of the afternoon, as Southern New Hampshire mustered just three hits, a third inning single by Palmer and a seventh inning single by Andy Lalli (Lakeville, Mass.) in addition to Stanton's round-tripper. Gore went the first six innings and allowed the one hit while striking out five. Nick Marics, despite blowing the save opportunity by allowing Stanton's game-tying homer, picked up the win, going the final two innings and retiring six of the eight batters he faced.
Tyler Gauthier (Lynn, Mass.) started and went the first 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and the one unearned run while fanning three without issuing a walk. Powers went the rest of the way and struck out five in his 3.1 innings while surrendering a pair of hits. Giones and Matt Lopes led Wilmington with two hits apiece.
