Baseball sinks Camden, advance to Region Final Four

VINELAND - After a two year "hiatus" from the Region XIX Baseball Final Four, Dukes Baseball has returned after defeating Camden CC in their first round series two games to one (2-1).

Cumberland earned a game 1 victory by mercy rule as the Dukes were all over the Cougars from the first pitch as they scored in every inning of play.  Brinden Floyd and Tyler Bunting paced the Dukes offense with Floyd going 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs and a run scored while Bunting went 2 for 4 with a solo home run.  Angel Rodriguez was a perfect 4 for 4 on the day scoring 4 runs.  Austin Wokock went the distance for the Dukes going 6 innings with 5 strikeouts in the Dukes 15-5 victory.

In Game 2, the Cougars bounced back in a big way as they jumped all over the Dukes with an early 9-1 lead that the Navy & Gold could not recover from.  Bunting delivered his 2nd homer of the day with a solo shot to right field but it would not be enough to spark the Dukes as they fell 14-3.  Joey Kurtz had 6 strikeouts in 6 innings.

Game 3 it would be the Dukes to jump on top early and often as they scored 7 runs in the 2nd inning and another in the 3rd inning to take a 9-0 lead into the 5th inning.  The Cougars did not go away as they would score 6 times in the 5th to put a scare into the Dukes.  Cumberland would then answer with 3 runs in the 5th inning and 2 runs i the 6th inning to take a 14-6 lead to finish off Camden in 7 innings.  Cole Shover and Kory Jenkins would combine for 5 hits, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs scores to highlight the Dukes offense.  Ty Powell would go 2 for 4 with 3 runs scored and Tyler Bunting would go 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.  The trio of Ryan Beebe, Dalton Rdenski, and Joey Gallagher held the Cougars in check for most of the game to give the Dukes offense a chance to close it out in the 7th.

Cumberland now advances to the Region XIX Final Four which will be played at Rutgers University-Camden, Thursday, May 15 - Sunday, May 18 (if necessary).  The Dukes are the third seed and will play second-seed Brookdale in the first matchup.