WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University baseball team is set to begin its 2022 season on Sunday under the guidance of fourth-year head coach Kevin Gryboski '95.

The Colonels went 17-14 overall last season and 16-12 during the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) regular season to earn the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament. The Colonels split the first two games of their quarterfinal series against No. 4 Arcadia University before dropping the third game in a tight 6-5 contest.

"I think the guys are anxious to get out on the field and start playing some games," Gryboski said. "We've had about a month of practice and the guys are anxious to get some competition going and starting the season this weekend and then going down south and getting some warm weather and playing some games down there."

All six of the Colonels All-MAC Freedom selections from a season ago are back for the 2022 season.

Outfielder Dominick Bayo (Swoyersville, PA/Wyoming Valley West) earned First Team All-MAC Freedom honors as a designated hitter last season.  He was also selected Second Team All-Region by D3baseball.com and Third Team Division III Mid-Atlantic All-Region by ABCA/Rawlings. Bayo returns as a graduate student to the lineup after a season where he went 41-for-113 over 30 games, a .363 average, with seven doubles, one triple, two home runs, 27 RBIs, 20 runs scored, six walks, was hit by three pitches, and only struck out seven times. Bayo finished with a .397 on-base-percentage and a .496 slugging percentage while also earning four sacrifice fly's, seven sacrifice bunts, and six stolen bases.

Outfielder Darren Kerdesky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) returns for his junior season after earning First Team All-MAC Freedom honors last season. In 29 games (25 starts), Kerdesky was 32-for-89, a .360 batting average, with five doubles, one triple, two home runs, 23 RBIs, scored 19 runs, and had six walks. Kerdesky was hit by five pitches, and sported a .422 on base percentage while slugging .506.

Graduate student infielder Nick Pronti (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Wood-Ridge) earned Second Team All-MAC Freedom honors last season. He had 33 hits in 111 at-bats, good for a .297 average over 31 starts. The shortstop totaled nine doubles, one triple, four home runs, 33 runs batted in, 24 runs scored, and 16 walks. Pronti added a .376 on-base-percentage, .505 slugging percentage, five sacrifice fly's, and two stolen bases.

On the pitching, side senior JT Hibschman (Millville, NJ/Millville) was named Second Team All-MAC Freedom. He finished his junior season 3-1 with a 3.91 earned run average, allowing 21 earned runs over 48.1 innings across eight starts. He surrendered 40 hits with 29 strikeouts and 24 walks while holding opponents to a .229 average.

Graduate student infielder Brandon Reno (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) and senior utility player Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) each earned Honorable Mention All-MAC Freedom honors last season. Reno was a First Team selection in 2019 and Patrizio was also an Honorable Mention in 2018. Reno had 33 hits in 104 at-bats for a .317 average across 31 starts. He finished with five doubles, three triples, 25 RBIs, 11 runs scored, six walks, 10 hit-by-pitches, three sacrifice fly's, a .423 slugging percentage, and a .398 on-base-percentage. Patrizio finished with 25 hits in 92 at-bats from the top of the batting order for a .272 average across 31 games. He added two doubles, four triples, 11 RBIs, 36 runs scored, 26 walks, five hit-by-pitches, and 16 stolen bases. He finished with a .452 on-base-percentage and a .380 slugging percentage.

"There is a lot of experience in the starting nine, we bring back a lot of experience," Gryboski said. "I am looking forward to getting those guys on the field and mixing them in with some of the younger guys that we have."

Senior pitcher Tony Molitoris (Hanover Twp., PA/Holy Redeemer) returns after a strong 2021 season where he went 5-1 in eight starts. He had a 3.81 ERA in 49.2 innings pitched with three complete games and a 1.17 WHIP. Molitoris struck out 27 batters and only had eight walks with a .262 opponent's batting average.

Returning to join Hibschman and Molitoris on the pitching staff are senior Gage Coudriet (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola), juniors Jonathan Martens (Mt. Pocono, PA/Scranton Prep), Sawyer Kemp (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick), and Jack Gordon (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee), and sophomore Ryan Sanderson (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell). Coudriet went 3-2 over nine appearances with six starts last season with 40.1 innings pitched. Kemp appeared in nine games with two starts while Gordon started six games and had seven appearances. Martens was an important arm out of the bullpen with 10 appearances, 18.1 innings, and 3.93 ERA. Sanderson pitched 7.2 innings over four appearances.

Joining the pitching staff this season will be first years Mike Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights), Connor Morgan (Dallas, PA/Lake Lehman), Aiden Murphy (Mountain Top, PA/Wyoming Seminary), Tyler Hoedl (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Holy Redeemer), Tegan Shortlidge (Berwick, PA/Berwick), Nate Jaslar (Hanover, PA/Hanover), and Todd Kolbicka (Hanover, PA/Hanover). Show and Morgan will also see time in the outfield while Kolbicka also plays in the infield.

Adding depth to the field and batting lineup are eight returners in graduate infielder Rob Iacono (Wantagh, NY/MacArthur), junior infielder Jason Spezzaferra (Maywood, NJ/Hackensack), junior catcher/outfielder Peyton Schuck (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy), junior catcher Alexis Velez (Caguas, PR/Notre Dame), junior infielder Stone Wormuth (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale), sophomore infielder Ruben Ortiz Montemayor (Veraguas, Panama/Iclave), sophomore infielder Loch Williams (Elkton, MD/Tome), and sophomore infielder Rocky DiBernardo (Gainesville, FL/Oak Hall School).

Junior infielder AJ Brosious (Laurys Station, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) joins the Colonels from Moravian University while junior catcher/infielder Max Alessi (Wallenpaupack, PA/Wallenpaupack) puts on the Navy and Gold from Felician University. Sophomore catcher Justin Stefanowicz (Hanover, PA/Hanover) comes to Wilkes from West Chester University and sophomore infielder Sean Granahan (Pottstown, PA/Wilson West Lawn) joins the Colonels from Northampton Community College.

First year position players in infielder Aiden Velez (Bronx, NY/St. Raymond High School for Boys), infielder Chase Vrabel (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland), catcher/infielder Zach Luksic (Dallas, PA/Dallas), outfielder Jimmy Brazofsky (Park Ridge, NJ/Park Ridge), and infielder Adam Grundt (Archbald, PA/Valley View) round out the Colonels depth.

"Everyone is fighting for playing time, the practices and workouts have been very competitive," Gyboski commented. "Guys know they are fighting against each other for jobs and for playing time so I'm looking forward to watching these guys compete on the field."

The Colonels 2022 season gets underway Sunday at 11:00 a.m. with a doubleheader at Bruggeworth Field against first-year program Rosemont College. Then Wilkes heads to Fort Pierce, Fla. for Spring Break with nine games between March 5th and March 12th.

Wilkes then begins MAC Freedom play with a three-game series against Misericordia University with the single nine-inning game on Friday, March 18 at Bruggeworth Field and the doubleheader seven-inning games on Saturday, March 19 in Dallas, Pa.

The rest of the schedule consists of three-game series with the other six MAC Freedom programs and eight non-conference games.

"We have two of arguably the better team's right from the start in the conference play," Gryboski said. "Some of the non-conference games are tough as well, we go up to Cortland State, William Patterson as well, and TCNJ. I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure our guys are as well."