SCRANTON, Pa. – Nicholas Capozzi (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) came through in the clutch with a two-run double to tie the score at eight, but the University of Scranton hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to defeat the Wilkes University baseball team 9-8 at the first game at the Royals' Volpe Family Field on Thursday evening.

The Colonels fell to 7-10 overall.

Wilkes got on the board in the top of the second when Jarret Clymer (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom), Capozzi, Matt Reinert (Telford, PA/Souderton), and Tyler Walther (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) all walked in a row to start the inning. After a passed ball scored Capozzi and moved Reinert and Walther up a base, Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) singled to bring in Reinert and stole second. Brady Wing (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) followed with a walk to load the bases and was followed by a sacrifice fly from Jack Fischer (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley). Joe Champi (Dupont, PA/Pittston) hit an infield single to reload the bases allowing Patrizio to come home on a fielder's choice error off the bat of Vincent Uzzi (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) to give the Colonels a 5-0 lead.

Scranton got on the board with one run in the bottom of the third on one hit and one error before bringing in two more runs in the bottom of the fourth on two hits. The Royals cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth on one hit and two walks.

Uzzi increased the lead to 6-4 in the top of the sixth when he hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Patrizio. Patrizio reached on a leadoff walk, moved to second on a groundout, and reached third when Fischer singled up the middle.

Scranton took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, crossing the plate four times on two hits and taking advantage of two errors.

Capozzi tied the game at eight in the top of the ninth with his double down the right field line, scoring Uzzi after he reached on an error, and Jack Hines (Hawthorne, NJ/Hawthorne), who pinch ran for Clymer after a walk.

The Royals won the game after a lead-off triple and a sacrifice fly.

Francis Navatta (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) tossed the initial three innings for Wilkes, giving up one run (zero earned) on two hits and four walks with one strikeout. Zach Metz (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) followed with two innings allowing three runs on two hits with four walks and one strikeout. Zach Adamchick (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) went two innings surrendering two runs (one earned) on two hits with three walks and one strikeout, while Jeremy Yziek (Waymart, PA/Holy Cross) suffered the defeat after going 1.1 innings allowing three runs (one earned) on two hits.

Fischer (2-4, one RBI) and Patrizio (2-3, two runs, one RBI) led the way at the plate.

The Colonels return to action tomorrow when they open their three game series with King's starting at 3:30 p.m. at Artillery Park.