Strong Batting Gives Wilkes Baseball 13-6 Win Over DeSales

CENTER VALLEY, PA – The Wilkes University baseball team had 15 hits on the day as they went on the road to Weiland Park and earned themselves a 13-6 win over DeSales University in Thursday afternoon Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) competition 

The Colonels would go 7-6 on the year while improving to 1-2 in the conference. The Bulldogs would fall to 4-7 on the season and 2-1 in the MAC Freedom. 

Wilkes would begin the scoring at the top of the first inning as Evan Melberger (West Pittston, PA/Wyoming Area) walked, then advanced to second on a muffed throw and third on a wild pitch. Todd Kolbicka (Hanover Twp., PA/Hanover) walked as well, then Darren Kerdesky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) hit the ball to where the Bulldogs pulled a double play on him and Kolbicka while Melberger ran to home plate to give the Colonels a 1-0 lead. DeSales would tie the game in the bottom of the second as they loaded the bases on a double and two singles, setting up a sacrifice fly to right field to even up the score at 1-1. Hunter Lawall (West Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area) got the last out with the bases loaded to keep the game tied at the bottom of the second. 

Wilkes would earn two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Zack Luksic (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) got on pass as he was hit by pitch while Max Alessi (Wallenpaupack, PA/Wallenpaupack) advanced him to second on a single to center field. Chase Vrabel (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) loaded the bases on a walk. Mike Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) hit the ball to the shortstop who converted on a double play to second and first base, which allowed Luksic to score. Devin Markert (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) followed that by hitting a single to right field, bringing home Alessi to put the Colonels lead up 3-1.  

They would continue their attack at the plate with five more runs in the top of the fifth. Alessi would walk on a loaded base count, bringing Kolbicka in for a score. Vrabel would get a double to right center field as he drove Luksic and Kerdesky home, with Show hitting a single to left field as Alessi got home to get Wilkes up 8-1 in the fifth inning.  

The Colonels would get three more scores in the top of the sixth. Kolbicka would advance to second base while Melberger scored on a wild pitch. Kerdesky brought Kolbicka home with a single to right field. Alessi finished the scoring as he brought Kerdesky home on a ground out to first by the shortstop, giving Wilkes an 11-1 lead as they headed to the seventh inning. 

The Bulldogs would pull closer to Wilkes lead as they would get a single to left field to bring a runner home to make the game 11-2. Then, with the bases loaded, DeSales would get a homerun as they would go to the final two innings down 11-6. 

Wilkes would finish the top of the eighth with two runs. Markert advanced to first on a wild pitch that helped Ryan Johnston (Garden City, NY/Chaminade) make it to home plate while Alessi scored on another Bulldogs wild pitch that gave the Colonels a 13-6 lead that they would hold onto through the rest of the eighth and ninth innings.  

Lawall (3-0) went 6.0 innings as he struck out seven strikeouts. He allowed one run on five hits with three walks. Colby Butczynski (Nanticoke, PA/Greater Nanticoke) pitched 1.0 innings, allowing five runs on six hits, striking out two batters while allowing one walk. Sawyer Kemp (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick) finished the pitching as he pitched 2.0 innings as he had two strikeouts with six at-bats. 

Jared Drake (0-3) pitched 4.1 innings as he struck out five batters, allowing six runs on four hits, five errors, and five walks. Zach Rothermel pitched 0.2 innings, giving up four runs on three hits, four errors, and one walk. Frank Parrotti pitched 1.0 innings as he had one strikeout while allowing one run on three hits, an error, and a walk. Anthony Schieble, Will Shelden, and Nicholas Millets all pitched 1.0 innings as they combined for five hits, allowing two runs, an error, and a walk while striking out three batters. Ryan Whitaker finished the pitching as he allowed two runs on a hit, an error, and a walk. 

Alessi was 3-for-5 at bat with three runs scored while Kolibcka was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Kerdesky, Melberger, and Luksic had two runs on the day while Johnston and Vrabel had one score each.  

Wilkes will return to Bruggewroth Field for a doubleheader on Saturday as they take on Arcadia University with the first game starting at 12:00 p.m.