Ludman's arm, Miller's bat play key roles as Blue Hens beat Charleston in CAA baseball

Freshmen Chris Ludman and Zack Miller sparked Delaware to a 5-1 win over the College of Charleston Thursday night as the Blue Hens remained alive in the Colonial Athletic Association Baseball Tournament at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Ludman (2-2, 2.76), the 2017 St. Mark’s High grad, pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings, allowing three hits, walking five and striking out three.

Fifth-year senior James Meeker then came on and pitched hitless, shutout baseball until Charleston scored a run on two ninth-inning hits.

Miller, the catcher out of Salesianum, was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

No. 5-seeded and defending champ Delaware (31-26), which had lost to UNCW 2-1 and beaten Hofstra 3-1 on Wednesday, plays at 3 p.m. Friday against No. 1 Northeastern (33-18). The Huskies fell 9-2 to UNCW in their tourney opener Thursday.

No. 3 Charleston (36-19) joined Delaware in the loser’s bracket after falling 3-2 in 12 innings to No. 2 Elon Thursday afternoon. The Cougars were eliminated.

Delaware took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Miller’s single that scored Calvin Scott, who’d singled, and Diaz Nardo, who’d walked. Miller then scored on Kevin Mohollen’s single.

Delaware added three more runs to take a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning, which started with Nardo’s double. Miller singled home Nardo again and then scored on Kyle Baker’s two-out single.

McGroarty advances at NCAA East

Delaware senior Liz McGroarty broke her school record while advancing in the 1,500 meters of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East Preliminary on Thursday at the University of South Florida.

McGoarty clocked a 4:19.52 to place fifth in her heat and move on to Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinals, where the top five in each of two heats and the next two best times advance to the NCAA Championships. It’s the furthest a UD runner has ever advanced at the NCAA level.

Her time ranked 16th of the 24 who advanced among 48 starters.

McGroarty, a 22-year-old Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, resident and Garnet Valley High grad, had run a 4:19.92 earlier this month during the ECAC Championships at Princeton.

Blue Hen teammate Ashley Bailey, the junior out of Middletown High, competes in the pole vault Friday morning.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.