Wilkes Baseball Pounds Out 18 Hits in Lopsided Victory
KINGSTON, PA – The Wilkes University baseball team swung the bat well on Wednesday afternoon on their way to a 17-8 win over the Cabrini University Cavaliers at Artillery Park.
The win improves Wilkes to 9-12 overall while slowing down Cabrini who drops to 17-6 on the season.
The Cavaliers started the scoring in the top of the first inning as a bases loaded walk and a pair of RBI groundouts gave the visitors an early 3-0 lead.
Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) led off the bottom half of the inning with a double over the head of the center fielder to put a Colonels baserunner right in scoring position as they tried to respond to the Cavaliers three spot in the top half. Brandon Reno (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) brought him home with a one-out sacrifice fly as Wilkes scored one in the frame to head to the second inning trailing 3-1.
After putting up a zero in the top of the second, Wilkes would work some two out magic as a single down the right field line by Brady Wing (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) scored Matt Reinert (Telford, PA/Souderton) from first base as Wing advanced to second on the throw home. After Patrizio reached on a fielding error, Jack Fischer (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) singled to center to plate Wing and tie the score at 3-3. Reno came up with another key at-bat as he dropped one in down the right field line to plate Patrizio and give the navy and gold a 4-3 advantage after two frames.
The Cavaliers answered back in the next inning as a leadoff single and a walk set the table for a three-run home run to left center that regained the lead for Cabrini at 6-4.
After recording the first out of the bottom of the third, the Cavaliers walked four straight hitters which allowed Jared Angerman (Northampton, PA/Northampton Area) to come all the way around and cut the deficit 6-5. After a Cabrini pitching change, Patrizio welcomed the new hurler with a two-RBI double down the right field line that brought home Reinert and Vinny Bobbin (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain) to put the Colonels back on top at 7-6. A wild pitch allowed Wing to come home while advancing Patrizio to third where he was brought in on a Fischer infield single. Nicholas Capozzi (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) joined the party with his first hit of the afternoon, a single in the hole to the left side, that plated Fischer from second after the ball got away from the Cabrini shortstop. Angerman came up for the second time in the inning and grounded a ball up the middle that went off the second basemen's glove and was misplayed by the center fielder to allow Reno to come around from second and cap off a seven-run inning that gave the home team an 11-6 lead.
The action quieted down for a couple innings as both teams put up zeros in the fourth and fifth innings.
Wilkes had a runner in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the sixth as a single by Patrizio who then quickly stole second base allowed Fischer to bring him home with an RBI single up the middle. Reno followed with a stand-up triple to right center to plate Fischer from first base. Reno scored on a wild pitch to balloon the Colonels advantage to 14-6 heading to the seventh inning.
Cabrini scored two in the top half thanks to a two-out error that gave the Cavaliers an extra out which was cashed in with a two-RBI triple to center field.
The Colonels responded in the bottom of the frame as Reinert lead off the inning with a double off the wall in left field. That brought Wing to the dish with one out who then hit a double of his own to left to trade places with his teammate. After a groundout to the pitcher, Fischer came up in another RBI situation and singled to right field to push the margin back to eight at 16-8 heading to the eighth.
Wilkes added one more in the bottom of the frame as a two-out single to right field by Nick Malatesta (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) plated Bryan Nifenecker (Amityville, NY/St. Dominic) to score the final run of the contest as the Colonels worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn a 17-8 victory.
Five hitters recorded multi-hit games for the navy and gold as Fischer led the way with a 5-6 day and four RBIs. Patrizio had three hits and scored four times from the leadoff spot while Reno, Angerman and Wing had two hits each. Nolan Ott (Montoursville, PA/Montoursville Area) pitched two shutout innings of two-hit ball to pick up his first win of the season.
The Colonels return to Artillery Park on Friday, April 5th as they open up a three-game Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom series against the Manhattanville Valiants at 3:30 p.m.
