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PHILADELPHIA EARNS TOP SEED FOR 2008 CACC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 6, 2008

NEW HAVEN, CT-Philadelphia University upended Post University in extra innings in the final game of the regular-season to clinch the top seed for the upcoming Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Tournament. The event will be hosted by Wilmington University on Thursday, May 8 to Saturday, May 10. Caldwell College is the No. 2 seed, Dominican College is third and Felician College is No. 4. The tournament will be held at Frawley Stadium, home of the Class A Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Northeast Region Tournament.

After starting the year 2-12 through March, Philadelphia closed the regular season on a 19-8 run through April and May to finish with an overall record of 21-20, its first winning campaign since 1999. This is also Philadelphia's first appearance in the CACC Baseball Tournament. The Rams finished with a 19-8 mark in CACC play, which tied Caldwell for the regular-season championship. However, the Rams earned the top seed by virtue of their 2-1 record against the Cougars in the regular-season.

Philadelphia will face Felician at 3:00 pm on Thursday at Frawley Stadium. Philadelphia took two of the three meetings with Felician in the regular-season. Felician entered the tournament in dramatic fashion after playing Wilmington on Sunday, with the winner earning a berth into the tournament and the loser being eliminated from contention. The Golden Falcons won the game, 13-4, to secure their third straight tournament appearance. Felician went 17-10 in CACC play and 26-22 overall.

Felician is making its seventh tournament appearance in the nine-year history of the program, and will be seeking its first NCAA bid. Felician junior center fielder Vinnie DiBenedetti has been named the CACC Player of the Week for two straight weeks. DiBenedetti owns the CACC single-season record for triples with 10 this year.

Caldwell enters the tournament with a 29-17 overall record and the No. 2 seed. The Cougars advanced to the CACC Championship game last year, but fell to Wilmington. The Cougars own the lowest team ERA in the CACC at 2.98. Junior Stephen Pfeil is tied for the league-lead in ERA (1.62), while sophomore Robert Casal is third (2.24) and junior Eric Hines is fourth (2.40). The Cougars also lead the CACC in team batting average at .283 in the league's first season using wood bats.

Caldwell and Dominican will open the tournament on Thursday at noon. Caldwell won two of the three meetings against the Chargers this season. Dominican is making its 23rd tournament appearance in the 24-year history of the program. Head Coach Rick Giannetti is making his 18th appearance in 19 years at the helm of the club. Dominican finished with an 18-9 mark in CACC action and is 26-23 overall this season. Dominican finished the season on a hot streak, having won 11 of its final 14 conference games to clinch the third seed.

The schedule for the tournament is below.

Thursday May 8th - at Frawley Stadium

Game 1-#2 Caldwell vs. #3 Dominican-12:00 pm

Game 2-#1 Philadelphia vs. #4 Felician-3:00 pm

Game 3-Losers of Games 1 & 2-6:00 pm

Friday May 9th - at Wilson Stadium

Game 4-Winners of Games 1 & 2-12:00 pm

Game 5-Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4-3:00 pm

Saturday May 11th

Game 6-Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5-11:00 am (at Frawley Stadium)

Game 7-If Necessary Game-3:00 pm (at Wilson Stadium)