Box Score
WILKES-BARRE –
Carmen Lopresto (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) went two-for-four with a double and a homerun, and
Mark Siebel (Rumson, NJ/Rumson Fair Haven) came in relief to pick up the save of an 8-5 victory for Wilkes at Artillery Park on Wednesday over the Marywood Pacers.
Zach Lazar (Berwick, PA/Berwick Area) got the nod to start the contest, and ran into trouble early when a two-run homerun by the Pacers in the first inning put Wilkes in an early deficit. The Colonels answered quickly though, as the first batter of the game for Wilkes was Lopresto who hammered out a deep homerun on the second pitch of the contest.
Tyler Marino (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Meyers) knocked in another runner in the first inning, and by the end of the frame Wilkes held a 3-2 advantage.
The Pacers added another run in the third inning, but Wilkes answered in the fifth with a two RBI double from Lopresto and a sacrifice fly by
Matt Ruch (Dallas, PA/Holy Redeemer). The sixth inning saw more offensive action from both teams, as
Mike Olerta (Springfield, VA/Robert E. Lee) hit a pinch-hit double off the left field fence to score another run for the Colonels.
Eric Bidwell (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) knocked in another run, helping to answer two runs that were scored by the Pacers earlier in the inning.
Wilkes held an 8-5 lead heading into the top of the ninth inning when Siebel came in to shut things down. With two on and one out, Marywood sent Thomas Czerw, who had already hit two homeruns, to the plate. Siebel was all business, striking out the first baseman before getting the last batter to groundout for the save.
Lazar picked up the victory on the afternoon, pitching five innings and giving up just two earned runs. Lopresto finished with two hits in the form of a homerun and double, as well as recording three RBI's.
Angus Neary (Old Forge/Riverside) and Bidwell were the other Colonels with two hits on the day. With the victory Wilkes improves to 5-4 on the season.
The Colonels will now enter into conference play as they head to St. David's to take on Eastern University on Friday. That game will begin at 3:00 p.m.
