FORT PIERCE, FL – The Wilkes University baseball team swept a Sunday doubleheader against Norwich University to remain unbeaten on the season as the Colonels continued play on their Spring Break Trip to Florida. Wilkes took game one 7-4 and then game two 13-0 behind Aiden Murphy's (Mountain Top, PA/Wyoming Seminary) 15 strikeouts.

Wilkes improved to 5-0 this season with the two wins while sending Norwich to 4-2 overall.

Game one saw the Cadets take a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Wilkes got on the board in the bottom of the third when Chase Vrabel (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) scored on a triple by Dominick Bayo (Swoyersville, PA/Wyoming Valley West) after being hit by a pitch. Nick Pronti (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Wood-Ridge) then singled to score Bayo to make it 3-2.

The Colonels took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) singled to shortstop to start the inning then moved to third on a Bayo double. Patrizio then scored on a sacrifice fly by Pronti. After Darren Kerdesky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) reached on an error, AJ Brosious (Laurys Station, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) singled to bring in both Bayo and Kerdesky as Wilkes went ahead 5-3.

Patrizio walked and Bayo singled in the sixth and then both would score on a double by Pronti to make it 7-3. The Cadets got one run back in the seventh inning but Nate Jaslar (Hanover, PA/Hanover) was able to record the final three outs as Wilkes took game one.

Pronti was 2-for-3 with four RBI's and Bayo went 3-for-3 with one RBI to lead Wilkes at the plate. Tony Molitoris (Hanover Twp., PA/Holy Redeemer) (1-0) earned the victory as he went 5.2 innings in the start, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Jonathan Martens (Mt. Pocono, PA/Scranton Prep) recorded the final out of the sixth for the Colonels before Jaslar pitched the seventh.

Game two was all Colonels from the start as Wilkes scored four in the top of the first. Patrizio scored on a Bayo single and then Max Alessi (Wallenpaupack, PA/Wallenpaupack) hit a three-run double that scored Bayo, Pronti, and Kerdesky.

Wilkes added five runs in the second. Pronti doubled to left that scored Patrizioi to start the scoring. Brandon Reno (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) then hit a three-run double that brought in Bayo, Pronti, and Kerdesky. Stone Wormuth (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale) then singled to score Reno as Wilkes went ahead 9-0.

In the top of the third Kerdesky hit a sacrifice fly that plated Patrizio. Then Reno drove in Bayo with a base knock. Wormuth then doubled to score the Colonels final two runs and make it 13-0 as Jason Spezzaferra (Maywood, NJ/Hackensack) and Reno scored.

Murphy (1-0) was the story for the Colonels on the mound as the first year went all seven innings with 15 strikeouts. He only allowed four hits and one walk in the shutout. Murphy struck out the side in the four, fifth, and sixth innings.

Reno was 2-for-3 with four RBI's, Wormuth was 2-for-3 with three RBI's, and Bayo was 2-for-2 with three runs to lead the Colonels at the plate in game two.

Wilkes returns to the field tomorrow for a single nine-inning game against Drew University at 11:30 a.m.