FORT PIERCE, FL – The Wilkes University baseball team scored two runs in the first and two more in the sixth on way to a 4-1 victory over Houghton College Friday afternoon at Bob Gladwin Stadium.
 
Wilkes improved to 3-4 overall following the victory.
 
Wilkes took a 2-0 lead after its first at-bats as Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) and Darren Kerdesky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) led off the frame with back-to-back singles. After a Brandon Reno (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) groundout moved runners to second and third, Kerdesky came around to score on a wild pitch. One batter later, Nick Malatesta (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) singled home Nick Pronti (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Wood-Ridge), who had reached on a fielder's choice, for the second run of the inning.
 
The score remained the same until the top of the sixth inning when Houghton notched one run to cut the lead in half. The Colonels responded with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning as Pronti doubled down the left field line to begin the frame. Bryan Nifenecker (Amityville, NY/St. Dominic) singled home Pronti and Matt Reinert (Telford, PA/Souderton) connected on an RBI double down the right field line scoring Nifenecker.
 
From there Gage Coudriet (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola) came in for the close, pitching the final three innings not allowing a run and just one base hit while striking out two. Sawyer Kemp (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick) recorded his first collegiate win on the mound starting and going six innings allowing just the one run on six hits while striking out three.
 
Wilkes concludes its spring break trip tomorrow with a game against Drew University starting at 10:00 a.m.