PHILADELPHIA – Trailing 10-7 since the end of the fourth, the USciences baseball team had the tying run reach base in the eighth and then come to the plate in the ninth in an eventual 11-8 loss to regionally-ranked Wilmington on Tuesday afternoon at Richie Ashburn Field.

Following three straight scoreless innings, AJ Pena's led off the eighth with a walk to begin the threat. Joe Duffy was then hit by a pitch and after the first two outs were recorded, Evan Sinclair made it a two-run game with an RBI single.

Wilmington (14-5) stranded the runners on first and third though, and the Wildcats then took advantage of an error to re-establish their three-run advantage on a steal of home with two outs in the ninth.

The Devils tried to rally one final time when Pena followed a two-out error with his 100th career hit to bring the tying run to the plate, but Wilmington was once again able to escape the jam.

Freshman Ishaan Patel would have pitched four scoreless innings of relief if not for the unearned run in the ninth. He allowed just three hits, while striking out three and walking zero in what was his longest outing of the season.

17 of the game's 19 runs were scored in the first four innings, with the Wildcats plating three in the first, three in the third and fourth in the fourth.

University of the Sciences responded each time, scoring in each bottom-half.

Nick Cerelli played a role in the all three of those frames, following Duffy's leadoff single with a two-run homer to make the score 3-2 in the bottom of the first.

He then led off the third with a single before stealing second and coming home on an error that would eventually help lead to four unearned runs tying the score at 6-6.

Finally, Cerelli led off the fourth with a double, advanced to third on a flyout, and scored on Sinclair's single to bring the scoreboard to 10-7.

It would stay that way until the bottom of the eighth, despite both team advancing runners into scoring position.

Cerelli and Sinclair both finished 3-for-5 with two RBI, for their respective fourth and third three-hit games of the year.

Cerelli's home run was the 10th of his USciences career, now tied for fifth in program history.

Adam Estrada also reached base three times via two singles and a base on balls.

University of the Sciences begins a busy weekend on the road on Saturday, with a 3:30 p.m. first pitch at Dominican.