FORT PIERCE, FL – The Wilkes University baseball team held off a ninth inning rally by Thiel College Tuesday afternoon as the Colonels won 8-7 on their Spring Break Trip. Wilkes saw Tegan Shortlidge (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick) pitch six innings in his start without allowing an earned run and Mike Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) recorded his first collegiate save while having five players record two hits.

Wilkes improved to 4-3 overall with the win while Thiel dropped to 1-2 overall.

The Colonels took the lead in the bottom of the first inning as Show led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout. Show then went to third on a passed ball and Darren Kerdesky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) walked. Kerdesky then stole second and Show took home for the first run. AJ Brosious (Laurys Station, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Kerdesky to make it 2-0.

The Tomcats scored one run on one hit and two Wilkes errors in the top of the second.

Wilkes added to its lead in the bottom of the third with three runs on three hits. Peyton Schuck (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) walked and then scored on a triple by Kerdesky. Brosious then drove in Kerdesky with a single. Max Alessi (Wallenpaupack, PA/Wallenpaupack) was hit by a pitch with two out to move Brosious to second and then Todd Kolbicka (Hanover Twp., PA/Hanover) drove him in with a single down the left field line to make it 5-1.

Devin Markert (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) walked to start the fifth and then with two outs advanced on a balk. Kolbicka then brought in Markert with an RBI single.

Thiel pulled back three runs in the top of the sixth to make it 6-4 as they had two hits and two helped by two errors.

Show started the bottom of the sixth with a double and went to third on a Schuck infield single. Schuck then stole second as Show went home from third as he did in the first inning to make it 7-4.

Jason Spezzaferra (Maywood, NJ/Hackensack) walked to begin the bottom of the eighth for Wilkes and moved to second on a Schuck single. Kerdesky then drove in Spezzaferra with a double to center for what would prove to be the winning run.

Thiel was able to go walk, single, double to make it 8-6 with no outs in the ninth. Show entered with no outs and a runner on second to get two groundouts, with a run scoring on the second groundout.  Show then struck out the final batter to nail down the victory for Wilkes and earn his first career save.

Shortlidge (1-0) started and went the first 6.0 innings allowing four runs (zero earned) on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Sawyer Kemp (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick) pitched the next 2.0-plus innings allowing three runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Show earned the final 1.0 innings with the one strikeout.

Show (2-for-5, two runs), Schuck (2-for-3, two walks, one run), Kerdesky (2-for-4, two RBI's, two runs, one walk), Brosious (2-for-3, two RBI's one run), and Kolbicka (2-for-4, two RBI's) all collected multi-hit games for the Colonels.

Wilkes closes out its Spring Break Trip to Florida tomorrow with a doubleheader against Norwich University starting at 10:00 a.m.