Late Rally Downs Wilkes Baseball against Eastern Nazarene
FORT PIERCE, Fl. – Three runs over the final two innings were the difference as the Wilkes University baseball team fell to Eastern Nazarene College on Monday evening by an 11-9 final in Fort Pierce.
The Colonels fell to 2-2 with the defeat.
Eastern Nazarene pushed across three runs in the top of the first on four hits.
Wilkes responded in the bottom of the first with two runs of its own. Jack Fischer (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) reached with a one-out walk and moved to second on a single from Nicholas Capozzi (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy). After a lineout, Charles Giacometti Jr. (Dallas, PA/Dallas) singled to right-center to bring home Fischer and was followed by an RBI infield single from Matt Reinert (Telford, PA/Souderton) to score Capozzi.
The Colonels took the lead in the bottom of the second when Fischer hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Vinny Bobbin (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain) after he lead off the frame with a walk followed two batters later by a single from Brandon Reno (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) scoring Jack Hines (Hawthorne, NJ/Hawthorne), who also walked, giving Wilkes a 4-3 advantage.
The Colonels added to their lead in the bottom of the third. Reinert led off the inning getting hit by a pitch, followed by Nick Pronti (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Wood-Ridge) also wearing a pitch. After a popout, Hines brought home Reinert with a single to left that moved Pronti to second, and proceeded to steal second. With two outs, Fischer hit an infield single to bring home Pronti, with Hines also coming home after the second baseman through the ball away allowing Wilkes to take a 7-3 lead.
The Lions cut into the score with two runs in the top of the fourth and three runs in the top of the seventh to take an 8-7 lead.
The Colonels tied the score in the bottom of the seventh on a Capozzi single to center bringing in Alex Halladay (West Chester, PA/Bayard Rustin), who led off the frame with a pinch-hit single.
Eastern Nazarene took the lead for good in the top of the eighth with two runs and added an 11th run in the top of the ninth.
Wilkes loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, pushing one run across when Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) was hit by a pitch while pinch-hitting to bring home Jorge Gonzalez (Reading, PA/Conrad Weiser) but that was all the Colonels could muster.
Jeremy Yzeik (Waymart, PA/Holy Cross) suffered the loss allowing two runs on three hits with two walks over one inning.
Capozzi finished 3-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI while Reinert was 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI.
Wilkes returns to the diamond tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. against Muskingum University.
