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The Wilkes University baseball team finally got the offensive surge it was looking for as the Colonels scored 14 runs in the final three innings to beat Scranton 16-4.

The Colonels banged out 16 hits with five players picking up at least two in the game including a three-run homer by Angus Neary (Old Forge/Riverside) in the seventh. Neary's blast was part of a six-run inning that broke open a 2-1 Wilkes lead.

Scranton opened the game with a lone run in the first on a sacrifice fly to left, allowing the leadoff runner Chris Stallone, who reached on a walk, to score. Wilkes would answer in the top of the second when reached on a one out infield single and would later score when Mike Brennan (New Ringold, Pa./Marian Catholic) reached on a fielder's choice.

The score will remain that way until Mike McAndrew (Avoca, Pa./Pittston Area) hit a two-out single to right field in the top of the fifth and after two Scranton errors, would score to give the Colonels a 2-1 advantage.

In the top of the seventh, Wilkes would explode for five hits - all singles except for Neary's bomb and took advantage of three wild pitches to take an 8-1 lead. Scranton would cut into the Colonel lead with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Wilkes would come back with four more runs in the top of the eighth. Neary led off the inning with a walk and would later advance to second on a wild pitch before Randy Dengler (Ashland, Pa./Tri-Valley ) doubled to left center to score Neary. Ben Caiola (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) would get into the hitting act as well as he raked a two-run double to left, scoring Carmen Lopresto (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) and Rich Cosgrove (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Myers H.S.), giving Wilkes a 12-3 lead.

The Royals picked up one more run in the bottom of the eighth before Wilkes came back with four scores in the top of the ninth.

McAndrew, Neary, Dengler, Cosgrove and Lopresto all had two-hit games, while two others had multiple RBI performances. Five different pitchers saw action for Wilkes as Zach Lazar (Berwick, Pa./Berwick Area) picked up the win for the Colonels, tossing three innings giving up just one hit while striking out three.

Wilkes will be back in action Friday when it hosts FDU-Florham for a Freedom Conference game starting at 3:30 p.m. at Artillery Park.