Scranton Takes First Bout Over Wilkes Baseball 12-5
SCRANTON - The Wilkes baseball team fell to the vote-receiving University of Scranton Royals in their Landmark Conference matchup down the road at the Charles J. Volpe Family Field on Monday night.
The Colonels suffered their third loss of the season, falling to 14-3 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Scranton, who continued their win-streak to four games, improved to 12-3 on the season and 6-1 in the Landmark.
A lead-off walk by
Nathan Loch (Effort, PA/Pleasant Valley) was followed by
Luke Spencer (Lehman, PA/Lake Lehman) getting hit by a pitch.
Mike Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) then worked the second walk of the inning, loading the bases with no outs for
Jimmy Brazofsky (Park Ridge, NJ/Park Ridge). The Colonels' right fielder hit into a fielder's choice, bringing home Loch from third and advancing Spencer to third as the visitors took an early 1-0 lead. He stole second and came around to score when
Max Alessi (Wallenpaupack, PA/Wallenpaupack) connected on a pitch to center field, driving in Spencer and Brazofsky to grow Wilkes' lead to 3-0.
Tegan Shortlidge (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick) took the mound in his fourth appearance of the season. He escaped a second-and-third situation in the first inning relatively unscathed, allowing one run on a ground-out and retiring another batter to end the inning.
Royals pitcher Dan Johnson found his stride in the second, getting a lead-off ground-out and striking out two Colonels to end the inning.
Scranton cut their deficit to one run in the second on a single to left center that brought in a runner from second. On the next at-bat, Shortlidge and Alessi combined for a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play to end the threat.
The Royals put four runs on the board in the bottom of the third to take a 6-3 lead, however
Colby Butczynski (Nanticoke, PA/Greater Nanticoke) got out of the inning thanks to a strikeout looking and a 6-4 play at second base. They tacked on four more runs in the fourth to open up a 10-3 lead.
Ethan Jezewski (Millerstown, PA/Greenwood), who had come on to pitch in relief of
Evan Melberger (West Pittston, PA/Wyoming Area) in the fourth, worked a 1-2-3 fifth with a strikeout looking, line out that Mi. Show tracked to right center and a ground-out to Loch at shortstop.
Wilkes began to eat away at Scranton's advantage in the sixth inning, starting with a bases-loaded single to right field by Loch that drove in Alessi from third. After the Colonels cut the lead to 10-4,
Todd Kolbicka (Hanover Twp., PA/Hanover) scored from third on a wild pitch. Midway through the fifth, the Blue and Gold trailed 10-5.
Jezewski returned to the bump and pitched his second scoreless inning of the night after getting a pair of ground-outs and one strikeout swinging. He got the first runner of the seventh to ground out to Spencer at third before a batter's interference call and a fly-out to Brazofsky in right completed the right-handers second 1-2-3 inning of the contest.
The Colonels made good contact with the baseball in the top of the eighth, however only Ma. Show's double to left center fell as hard-hit balls by Kolbicka,
Jacob Cambria (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia) and Loch all found the gloves of Scranton's fielders.
The Royals built their lead back up to seven on two sacrifice flies before
Braydon Wuestner (Gales Ferry, CT/Ledyard) recorded the final out of the inning on a lineout to Mi. Show.
Spencer gave Wilkes some life in their last at–bats of the evening, opening up the ninth frame with a lead-off double to left. Mi. Show continued to build momentum with a single to center that brought Spencer across the diamond to third. Scranton was ultimately able to quell a Colonel rally with a strikeout, line-out and ground-out to end the game with a 12-5 final.
Shortlidge was assessed with the loss in his first decision of the season, falling to 0-1. Jezewski ate up 4.2 innings of relief pitching for the Colonels, striking out three batters in the process. Alessi batted in a team-high two RBIs and came around to score once while Loch and Spencer both collected two hits at the plate.
Dan Johnson improved to 4-0 on the season with nine strikeouts through 5.0 innings of work. John Zarnowski provided a massive three-hit, four-RBI performance that included a double. Scranton also got a four-RBI night out of Jared Cassella and three walks from Jake Elston.
The Colonels return home to Bruggeworth Field on Wednesday, March 27 when they welcome Lycoming College to town for a Landmark Conference matchup. First pitch against the Warriors is slated for 3:30 p.m.
