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With the Freedom Conference Tournament right around the corner, the Wilkes University baseball team concluded their regular season on the right foot on Tuesday, defeating non-conference foe Scranton 7-3 at Artillery Park.

 

With the win, the Colonels finish the regular season with a 28-9 overall mark as well as an 11-5 record in the conference, which garnered them the number two see in the Freedom Playoffs which start on Friday. The Royals conclude their regular season at 18-18-1 overall.

 

Wilkes jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead by scoring a run each in the first and second innings. Matt Ruch (Dallas, Pa./Holy Redeemer ) scored in the first after reaching on a single. He would advance to second on a single by Andy Garofoli (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle), and ended up scoring after a throwing error on an attempted double play to end the inning.

 

Tom Buckler (Plains, Pa./Coughlin) plated the second run for the Colonels as he led off the second with a triple and would be plated as John Florance (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks) hit a sacrifice fly to rightfield to give Wilkes the 2-0 lead.

 

Scranton would respond by scoring all three of their runs in the top of the third. The Royals strung together a few hits, including a double by Chirs Stallone and singles by Charles Comprelli and Chris Bligh, as well as a sacrifice fly from Rocky Sawyer to take the lead.

However, Wilkes tied the game with one run in the bottom of the fifth when Mike McAndrew (Avoca, Pa./Pittston Area) scored from second on a Garofoli single. They would add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh each to post the final margin.

 

Garofoli finished the day 3-for-4 with an RBI while John Florance (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks) had a single, double, two RBI, and one run scored to pace the Colonels. Justin Huff (Montrose, Pa./Montrose) started and earned the victory on the mound by pitching seven innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (two earned), with one strikeout.

 

Comprelli had two hits, one run and one RBI, while Bligh also registered two hits and one RBI for Scranton. Mike Sidlowski suffered the loss by pitching 6.2 innings, giving up seven runs (five earned) while striking out two batters.

 

Wilkes will return to action on Friday at 7:30 pm in Boyertown, as they take on third-seeded Alvernia University in Freedom Playoffs.