Please check this space for updates throughout the morning and afternoon on the Rams vs. Caldwell Cougars in the winners' bracket game of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament.

Due to feedback from Thursday's commentary, we're going to be adding each new inning to the top of the report so you don't have to scroll down to find the latest updates.  If you have any other feedback or comments, send them to connorsm@philau.edu and I'll try to answer them during the game.

BOX SCORE

POSTGAME:
The Rams fall 2-0 to Caldwell and they will be forced to play Dominican at 3:00 p.m. in New Castle, Del.

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH
ZMentzer grounds out and the Rams are down to their last two outs.  Tyler Mentzer sends a fly ball to shallow right and the second baseman and right fielder collide.  It appeared that Saxon, the RF, made the catch initially but the ball pops out of his glove.  Saxon comes out of the game favoring his knee.  Let's hope the Cougars' standout is okay as this has been a great ballgame.  Rob Fisher is at the plate now, let's also hope he can get a hit to keep the Rams in the hunt.  Fisher pokes a grounder into right field and the Rams have first and second; Matt Minakowski is the pinch runner at first for Fisher.  This is followed by Kyle Noonan coming aboard with a base on balls, so the bases are now loaded with Rams, one down.  Devin Conroy smacks one up the middle, but at the last possible nano-second, it hops right into the glove of the Cougar shortstop Santos who steps on second and fires to first for a gut-wrenching, game-ending DP.  If that ball gets through, the Rams have tied the game and have the winning run 90-feet away with just one out in the bottom of the ninth.  Instead, Casal gets the complete game shutout, he is clearly the player of the game, and the Cougars advance to tomorrow's Championship Round in a game to start at 10:00 a.m. at Wilson Field.

The top-seeded Rams have more baseball to play in about two and half hours, across town in New Castle, Del. at Wilson Field, where they battle the third-seeded Domincian Chargers.  Folks, I don't think I'll have a live Internet connection over at Wilson Field, so we'll probably just have a standard post-game recap.  If I can pick up any wireless signals in the area and the weather stays dry, I'll see if I can post some in-game updates.

TOP OF THE NINTH
Matt Fischer comes in to play center field for the Rams, batting in the ninth spot.
The bases are loaded with Cougars with one out.  They've pieced together two base hits and Noonan hit a batter.  However, he gets a huge ground ball to Tyler Mentzer who completes the 4-6-3 double play to keep the game 2-0 Caldwell.  It's the heart of the order with Zach Mentzer leading off the inning.  Keep your fingers crossed Rams fans.

BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH
DiFran grounds out to second, and Mike Anderson is called on to pinch hit for Dan Wothers.  Let's see if the Rams regular DH can light a much-needed spark.  Not necessarily as he goes down looking.  Casal now has seven K's on the day.  J-Lee is up with two down.  Lee pops out to shallow right, with the second baseman for Caldwell making the play on the outfield grass.  2-0 and the Rams are down to their last at-bat.  First they have to keep the Cougars at bay in the top of the ninth.

TOP OF THE EIGHTH
Lead-off batter Tommy Murphy attempts a drag bunt down the first base side, but Noonan makes the play to Fisher and it's one down as Keelan knocks one into shallow center for a base hit.  Chiarappa grounds to first and is retired as Keelan advances to second on the fielder's choice.  Coach Heineman then instructs Noonan to issue an intentional walk to Saxon, perhaps figuring he's due after going 0-for-3 to start the day.  Now Velazquez steps in with two on and two down.  A base on balls issued to Velazquez loads the bases for Molina as Rams' pitching coach Steve Larson heads to the mound to chat with Noonan on the strategy. and the talk must have worked as Molina smacks a line drive that is initially bobbled by shortstop Zach Mentzer, but he hangs on for a key out that keeps the score 2-0 Caldwell heading into the bottom of the inning.

BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH
Kyle Noonan leads off the inning and grounds out on Casal's first pitch.  Devin Conroy and Jason Hartley are put away and another one-two-three inning for Casal has the Rams down to their last six outs.  2-0 Cougars through seven complete.

TOP OF THE SEVENTH
Noonan hits the lead-off hitter for Caldwell, Gabriel Molina, who now stands on first base.  Edgar Santos steps into the batters' box.  Molina advances to second on a fielder's choice groundout by Santos, who is forced out at first.  One down, man on second for Doug Hilgenberg of the Cougars.  Hilgenberg is called out on strikes and Noonan strikes out Jon Irwin to end the mild Caldwell threat.  It's stretch time at Frawley with the Cougars still up 2-0.  The Rams have to find a way to solve Casal or else they'll be playing Dominican at Wilson Field beginning at 3:00 p.m. today.

BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH
Zach Mentzer strikes out to open the Rams turn at bat and Tyler Mentzer is now up.  Casal is getting better and better as he strikes out Tyler; the only hit he's allowed today was a ball that barely got out of the infield.  Rob Fisher now tries to make something happen with two down.  However, the Rams' first baseman taps out to his Caldwell counterpart.  Casal has put away 11 straight Rams and the Cougars lead 2-0 heading into the seventh inning of a briskly-paced game.

TOP OF THE SIXTH
Noonan gets Chiarappa to pop out to open the sixth.  Saxon is up once again, but he grounds sharply to Zach Mentzer who makes a nice throw to Fisher.  Conroy makes the catch in right as Omar Velazquez is the final out of a one-two-three inning for Noonan.  2-0 Caldwell through five and a half.  Caldwell has their two runs on just three hits; but the Rams have just one hit today themselves.

BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH
DiFran and Wothers ground out softly and Casal has two quick outs.  J-Lee swings at what would have been ball four, but give Casal credit as the movement on his pitches is obviously fooling the Rams.  They'll need to make some adjustments in order to get on the board today.  2-0 Cougars going into the sixth.

TOP OF THE FIFTH
Conroy makes a sliding catch in right field, looked like in foul ground, to make the first out of the fifth.  Back to the top of the order and Tommy Murphy, who's been on base twice already.  Murphy lines out to third for out number two, and Raymond Keelan is at bat.  Keelan grounds to second baseman Tyler Mentzer who throws to Fisher and the side is retired in order.  2-0 Cougars through four and a half.  Skies are brightening here in Wilmington, hopefully it's a sign of good things to come for the PhilaU hitters.

BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH
Casal breezes, retiring Noonan, Conroy and Hartley in order, and quickly.  Still 2-0 Caldwell.

TOP OF THE FOURTH
Despite allowing a baserunner, Noonan faces the minimum as Hartley catches a Cougar stealing second with a nice throw to gun him down.  Still 2-0 Caldwell with the Rams coming up in the bottom of the fourth.

BOTTOM OF THE THIRD
Dan Wothers, batting ninth and playing center field today, grounds out to first after breaking his wooden bat; Casal covered on the play.  With one down, JungMin Lee gets on yet again with a little base hit into shallow center.  Zach Mentzer gets on base and it's first and second.  But Casal gets Tyler Mentzer and Rob Fisher out to end the Rams' threat, and the game remains 2-0 in favor of the Cougars.

TOP OF THE THIRD
A lead-off double just inside the third-base bag by Tommy Murphy has Caldwell knocking on the door here in the third.  With one out, Chris Chiarappa does the opposite with a triple just inside the first-base bag, knocking in Murphy with the second Cougar run (it appeared initially that the play would be ruled a ground-rule double when the ball became lodged in the fencing, or perhaps behind a rubbish can, down the RF line; but the umpire allows the triple to stand).  Noonan then retires Saxon and Omar Velazquez to end the inning with the Cougars on top 2-0.

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND
Casal retires Conroy, Hartley and DiFrancesco in order as both starters work an easy second inning.  1-0 Cougars through two complete.

TOP OF THE SECOND
Noonan gets the lead-off hitter to ground out, one away and he appears to be settling in here in Delaware.  The next batter fouls one to the first base side and Rob Fisher makes an amazing catch, practically falling into the Caldwell dugout as he crashes into the fencing but holds onto the ball.  Noonan strikes out the third hitter and it's three-up, three-down.  1-0 Caldwell with the Rams coming to bat in the second inning.

BOTTOM OF THE FIRST
JungMin Lee gets on base again here in the CACC Tournament, drawing a lead-off walk after fouling off several 3-2 pitches.  He's made Casal work pretty hard already.  Lee steals second as Zach Mentzer works the count to 3-and-2 as well.  ZMentzer grounds sharply up the middle but the Caldwell shortstop makes the play over to first with Lee advancing to third on the putout.  Tyler Mentzer gets a base on balls, somewhat of an unintentional intentional walk as the Cougars now have a chance for a double-play ball with Rams on first and third, one down and Rob Fisher at the dish.  Fisher goes down swinging and there are two away with pitcher Kyle Noonan coming aboard, trying to help himself and tie the game.  TMentzer swipes second so two runners now in scoring position for Noonan, but he pops out to first base in foul territory to end the inning, still 1-0 Cougars.

TOP OF THE FIRST
Noonan hits the Caldwell lead-off hitter Tommy Murphy who heads to first base.  A failed pick-off attempt lands Murphy on second, which would have happened anyway as Noonan walks the Cougars' second batter.  First and second with no outs.  A double brings home a run and it's second and third with the Caldwell clean-up hitter at the plate, still no one out and 1-0 Cougars.  Noonan gets Adric Saxon, one of the CACC's best hitters, to tap back to the mound for an easy putout at first.  One down, still two on.  The nest batter strikes out swinging and there are two down with runners still on second and third.  Hopefully Kyle can get out of the jam with minimal damage.  He does just that, with another swinging strikeout and the Rams trail 1-0 and are coming to bat.

PREGAME
It's a cool, cloudy 53 degrees here at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Del.  On the hill for the Rams it's second-team All-CACC selection Kyle Noonan and Caldwell counters with conference Pitcher of the Year Robert Casal.  The Rams went 2-1 versus the Cougars in the regular season.