New Haven, CT (5/9/11)  Defending Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Tournament Champion Dominican College has secured the top seed for the upcoming 2011 Tournament, which is set to begin Tuesday, May 10. Tournament host Wilmington University is the No. 2 seed and will receive a first round bye along with the Chargers.

The tournament will commence with a pair of single elimination games on Tuesday as No. 6 Chestnut Hill College visits No. 3 Post University and No. 5 University of the Sciences travels to No. 4 Caldwell College. The winners of those two games will join Dominican and Wilmington in a four-team, double-elimination tournament at Wilmington starting Thursday, May 12.

Dominican won the 2010 CACC Championship as a No. 2 seed with a 6-4 win over Post University. The Chargers enter this year's tournament with a 26-15 overall record along with a 16-4 conference mark. The Chargers won their last five conference games, including a double-header sweep of Wilmington, to jump the Wildcats and secure the regular-season championship.

Dominican is led by junior pitcher Dave Bartuska and senior outfielder Dan Robinson at the plate. Bartuska went 7-2 this season with a 1.63 earned run average. He has allowed only 49 hits and 12 runs in 66.1 innings, while fanning 75 and walking 19. Junior Justin Moore has also accrued seven wins (7-1) and sports a 1.90 ERA.  Dustin Javins has a 1.97 ERA and is 4-3 this season.  Robinson has paced the offense with a .338 batting average along with four home runs, 28 runs batted in and 26 runs scored.  Senior Mario Lopez leads the team with 31 RBI and is second with a .297 average.  Dominican ranks second in the CACC in team batting average and fifth in ERA.

Dominican will play the winner of the USciences at Caldwell game on Thursday at noon at Wilmington's Wilson Field. The final two days of the tournament will be played at Frawley Stadium, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, on Friday and Saturday, May 13-14.

Wilmington will serve as the No. 2 seed after being ranked in the region for most of the season, including weeks of inclusion in the national poll. The Wildcats went 15-5 in the CACC and 34-10 overall. The Wildcats lead the CACC with a .273 batting average and is second with a 2.89 ERA. WU features three of the top four hitters in the CACC in Matt Umba (.372), outfielder Jordan Oncay (.364) and catcher Mike Godwin (.333). Senior left-hander Joe Harris enters postseason play with a 7-1 record and a 1.64 ERA, while freshman lefty Jaime Treml has a 1.99 ERA and went 8-1 in the regular-season.

Post University will play host to No. 6 Chestnut Hill College Tuesday at 2:00 pm in an elimination game. The winner will face Wilmington Thursday at 3:00 pm. The Griffins swept Post in two regular-season meetings, including a 16-inning, 5-4 win on April 30.  Post went 12-8 in conference play and 22-16 overall and Chestnut Hill was 10-10 in the CACC and 16-21 on the season. The Griffins tied Felician College and Concordia College in the final standings, but claimed the sixth and final tournament seed by going 3-1 against the Golden Falcons and Clippers in the regular-season.  

Post is led by junior right-hander Steven Corbett, who went 6-1 this season and stands second in the CACC with a 1.31 ERA. He also led the conference with five complete games and five shutouts. No one else in the conference notched more than one shutout this season. Junior Cutler Ruby went 3-2 and posted a 1.78 ERA. At the plate, Brendan Barry ranks third in the CACC with a .346 batting average, while DH Ralph Dieguez has knocked in 26 runs and hit two home runs. Post leads the conference in team ERA (2.55) and eight shutouts.

Chestnut Hill is led offensively by 2B Jesse Daywalt's .315 batting average. The Griffins won four of their last five conference games to move into the sixth spot and a second straight appearance in the tournament. Last season, the Griffins were the No. 6 seed and lost at No. 3 Felician, 7-4, in the opening round.   

Caldwell and USciences tied for fourth place with identical 11-9 records in league play, but Caldwell earned the tie-breaker due to sweeping the regular-season doubleheader, 4-3 and 6-2 back on Apr. 9 at home. Junior Joe Doerrer hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning to score freshman Stephen Dodd to win the first game. Dodd had two triples and four hits in the two victories.  The playoff game will cap off an exciting season at the Kiwanis Oval, the Cougars' first campaign in the renovated turf field just a few blocks from campus. Caldwell is 10-5 at its new home, including 10-2 in CACC games. Caldwell qualified for the tournament for the first time since taking the title in 2008. Freshman Dan Bartlett led the Cougars with five wins on the mound (5-2), while Juan Mejia paces the team with a .287 batting average, three home runs and 19 RBI.

USciences is making its first-ever appearance in the tournament. The Devils made huge strides in 2011 after winning just four total games last year, including a 1-19 showing in conference play. This year the team went 13-20 overall and 11-9 in the CACC. The Devils rank fourth in the CACC in batting average (.246) and fifth with a 3.59 ERA. Sophomore Dan McMahon went 6-2 in the regular-season and leads the CACC with a 1.25 ERA. He allowed only 47 hits and 11 earned runs in 79.1 innings of work. Sophomore shortstop Kyle Davis tied for 10^th in the conference with a .307 batting average, while junior infielder Lou Tomasetti was right behind Davis with a .303 average.  

The tournament schedule is listed below.

CACC Baseball Tournament, May 10-14
Tuesday, May 10 (single elimination)
Game 1: #5 USciences at #4 Caldwell, 2:00 p.m.
Game 2: #6 Chestnut Hill at #3 Post, 2:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 12 - Wilson Field (double elimination)
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. #1 Dominican, 12:00 p.m.
Game 4: Winner of Game 2 vs. #2 Wilmington, 3:00 p.m.

Friday, May 13 - Frawley Stadium
Game 5: Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 12:00 p.m.
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 3:00 p.m.
Game 7: Winner of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 6, 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 14 - Frawley Stadium
Game 8: Winner of Game 6 vs. Winner of Game 7, 11:00 a.m.
Game 9: Repeat Game 8 if necessary, 2:00 p.m.