EDWARDSVILLE, PA – The Wilkes University baseball squad continued their 2021 season with a pair of home games against Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom rival FDU-Florham Friday afternoon.
 
The Colonels (5-9) needed extra innings to put together a 7-6 comeback victory over the Devils (3-11) in game one, before shutting down FDU on all fronts in a 9-0 game two.
 
The Navy and Gold sent out junior JT Hibschman (Millville, NJ/Millville) to start the opening game.  The teams traded two run innings in the first two frames, with the Devils hitting a two-run homer to left field, before a RBI sacrifice fly from senior Vinny Bobbin (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain) and a RBI single from senior Dominick Bayo (Swoyersville, PA/Wyoming Valley West) tied the game at 2-2. 
 
The bats went quiet for a couple of innings before the Devils battered Hibschman with a four-run fourth.   He pitched two critical innings of shutout ball to keep the Navy and Gold's hopes alive in the game.  Senior Nick Malatesta (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) hit a RBI double to cut into the Devils lead in the fifth, before the Colonels put together a three-run sixth to send the game into extras.  Senior Brandon Reno (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) started the rally with a sacrifice fly, before sophomore Darren Kerdesky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) brought home the two tying runs with a single to send the game into extras.
 
Senior pitcher Andrew Indzonka (New Windsor, NY/Our Lady of Lourdes) took the mound for the Colonels in the seventh inning and threw three scoreless innings with two strikeouts.   The Colonels found their walk-off run in the bottom of the ninth, with Kerdesky taking advantage of a fielding error to give the Colonels a 7-6 victory. 
 
Senior Tony Molitoris (Hanover Twp., PA/Holy Redeemer) took the mound for the second game and pitched a complete game shutout for the Navy and Gold, including three strikeouts.  The Colonels bats started early, with Bayo cracking a home run to left center to take a early 1-0 lead.  The scoring went quiet until the fifth, where the Colonels put together a four-run inning to break the game open.  Bayo hit an RBI double to bring home the first run, before senior Nick Pronti (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Wood-Ridge) brought home Bayo with another RBI double, and Malatesta brought home Pronti and Kerdesky to finish the inning with a 5-0 edge.
 
The Colonels offense continued to hit in the bottom of the sixth, their last inning at-bat.  Senior Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) brought in a run after being hit by pitch with the bases loaded, while Bayo brought home another run with a sac fly.  Kerdesky finished the afternoon with a triple to right field to bring in the last two runs to put the cherry on top of a 9-0 Colonels victory.
 
Kerdesky went 5-for-8 at the plate in both games, with four RBIs and two runs to his name.  Malatesta went 5-for-7 with three RBIs in his tally, while Bayo had four RBIs including a home run on the afternoon.  Patrizio got his 50th steal of his career in the first game, only the seventh Colonel in program history to have 50 or more steals.
 
The Navy and Gold have won three of their last four and look to continue their streak as they travel to Teaneck, N.J. to complete the season series with FDU-Florham.  First pitch is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.