Game One
Game Two

The Wilkes University baseball team challenged Manhattanville in a double-header on Saturday, looking to make a run for a Freedom Conference playoff spot. The Colonels fell to the Valiants the night before, and dropped two more to Manhattanville on Saturday, falling 11-6 and 18-1.

On the mound for the Colonels in game one was Ryan Fetterman (Endicott, NY/Maine Endwell ), who took care of the top of the Valiant lineup in order to start off the game for Wilkes. In the top of the second Manhattanville struck in the form of a solo home run, giving it an early 1-0 lead. In the third the Valiants had two on with no out, eventually scoring both those runners and three more, extending its lead to six.

In the bottom of the third Wilkes answered, as Matt Ruch (Dallas, Pa./Holy Redeemer ) tripled to deep center field, scoring Mike 
McAndrew and Carmen Lopresto (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area). Then Angus Neary (Old Forge/Riverside) hit an infield single, scoring Ruch and making the score 6-3 with four innings left to play. The Valiants led off the fourth with another solo home run, getting back one of those runs lost in the third.

In the fifth Manhattanville collected three more runs on three hits and multiple walks by Colonel pitching, pushing its lead to seven. Wilkes put itself in position to come back in the sixth, scoring runs on hits by Joel Watson (Honesdale, PA/Honesdale) and John Florance (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks), and another on a fielder's choice by Lopresto, narrowing the deficit to five runs.

Unfortunately, the Colonels couldn't produce the necessary runs to climb back into the contest, dropping the first game 11-6.

Ruch ended up with two RBI's in the game to lead the Colonels, while Fetterman collected the loss.

Tom Buckler (Plains, Pa./Coughlin) was on the mound for Wilkes in game two, and in the first the Valiants jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs. The Valiants tacked on nine more runs over the next two innings, taking a commanding 12-0 lead.

The story of the game was Valiant pitcher Daniel Fiorito, who had a no-hitter going into the fifth before Jon Drebitko (Minersville, Pa./Minersville Area) broke it up with a single to left field.

Manhattanville then cruised to an 18-1 victory, with Wilkes collecting only two hits and one unearned run.

The Colonels' next contest is against Marywood on Tuesday, April 13. That game will be played up in Scranton, and will start at 4:00 p.m.