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Tom Buckler (Plains, Pa./Coughlin) tossed seven shutout innings of one-hit baseball while the Colonel offense pounded out 14 hits propelling Wilkes to a 9-0 win over Muhlenberg in the Colonels home-opener. Buckler had a no-hitter through six and two-thirds innings before giving up a double to pinch hitter Brian Beck for the Mules only hit of the game.

The win is the third-straight for the Colonels who improved to 6-4 on the year, and tallied their first shutout of the season. Mark Siebel (Rumson, NJ/Rumson Fair Haven) tossed the final two innings in relief and retired all six batters he faced.

Buckler retired the first seven batters he faced before walking Clint Lynch, but got Eric Hammond to ground into a double play to end the inning. He improved to 4-0 on the year as he picked up five more strikeouts while walking four in the victory.

The Colonels took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on three hits including an RBI triple by Andrew Garofoli (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle), who finished with two hits, three runs batted in and a run scored. Garofoli drove in leadoff hitter Mike McAndrew (Avoca, Pa./Pittston Area), who led off the inning with a single through the right side. Catcher Randy Dengler (Ashland, Pa./Tri-Valley ) followed with an RBI single to center, plating Garofoli.

The second inning was much like the first as the Colonels scored two more runs off a hit and capitalized on an error by Muhlenberg. Mule shortstop Dan Fisher mishandled a groundball by Geoff Miller (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) to start the inning which proved to be costly as he would come around to score on a bases loaded walk. Muhlenberg starter Matthew Ordog issued two of his four walks in the inning. He would last 3.2 innings before Mark Shive came in relief.

Wilkes would make it 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth on three more hits including an RBI single by Garofoli. Shane Keister (Middleburg, Pa./Midd-West) led off the inning with a single but would later be thrown out on a fielder's choice by McAndrew. Matt Ruch (Dallas, Pa./Holy Redeemer ) followed with a walk before McAndrew scored on Garofoli's single. Ruch would later score on a single up the middle by Dengler. The catcher would finish with three hits on the day with two RBI and was one of four players to pick up multiple hits.

The Colonels added a single run, a sacrifice fly to left by Ruch scoring Eric Wetzel (New Berlin, N.J./Mifflinburg), who led off the inning with a single through the right side. They would later tack on two more in the bottom of the eighth on four more hits.

Wilkes has now scored at least five runs in its last seven games and has posted two games of 20-or-more runs.

The Colonels will hit the road once again as they will face Neumann in Aston, Pa. tomorrow at noon.