FORT PIERCE, Fl. – The Wilkes University baseball team battled back from a 4-0 first inning deficit but two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth lifted Penn State-Behrend to a 10-5 victory in Florida on Wednesday afternoon.

The Colonels fell to 4-4 with the defeat.

The Nittany Lions started the scoring in the bottom of the first, pushing across four runs on five hits.

Wilkes closed the gap to 4-3 in the top of third on a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and three hits. Sophomore Jorge Gonzalez (Reading, PA/Conrad Weiser) led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a single from sophomore Brady Wing (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt). Sophomore Jack Fischer (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) came up next and laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out and following a fly out both runners came around to score on a two-run single from junior Joe Champi (Dupont, PA/Pittston). Junior Jarret Clymer (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) followed with an rbi triple to score Champi.

Penn State added to its lead in the bottom of the third on a lead off solo home run.

The Colonels tied the game in the top of the fifth on three hits. Champi led off the inning with his first home run of the season and Clymer followed with his second triple of the game, coming in to score the tying run on a single from senior Joshua Slocum (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) and make the score 5-5.

The Nittany Lions retook the lead in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs on two hits, a walk, and an error and added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth on three hits and an error to finish the scoring.

Sophomore Andrew Stambaugh (York, PA/Dallastown) surrendered two runs (one earned) in 1.0 innings to fall to 0-1 on the season.

Wing led Wilkes at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with one run scored. Champi went 3-for-5 three rbi's and two runs scored.