MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – No. 9 St. Thomas University (21-3, 5-1 TSC) defeated NCAA Division II Wilmington University by a score of 8-2 on Thursday night at Paul Demie Mainieri Field.

Orlando Rodriguez (5-0) continued to be the ace for the Bobcats pitching staff this year as he went seven innings, striking out nine Wildcats, only allowing four hits, two runs but only one was earned. Rodriguez earned his team leading fifth win of the season for St. Thomas. Closer, Erne Valdes got back on track as he entered the game in the eighth inning to close it out. Valdes struck out four Wildcats hitters in his two innings of work including striking out the side in the ninth inning to finish off the game.

The game started as a pitcher's duel between Rodriguez and the Wildcats starter as the game was tied at 1-1 after five innings of play. Wilmington took the lead in the sixth on a RBI groundout and led 2-1. The Bobcats would respond with a three run bottom half of the inning to claim the lead and never looked back. The runs came off of five straight hits from St. Thomas all with two outs in the inning, as the rally got started on a Randy Oliva single. When Nelson Mompierre came up in the eighth inning with the score at 6-2, he promptly hit another ball over the fence for his sixth home run of the season as part of his 2-for-5 night with the two-run home run and three RBIs. Mompierre clinched his fourth Golden Rake of the season with the home run.

The game concluded the "Spring Rake" stretch of games for St. Thomas as the won all eight games during the stretch.

Up next for St. Thomas is a Monday, March 12th night game at Paul Demie Mainieri Field at 6 p.m. against Adelphi University

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