EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes baseball team was unable to recover from a 7-0 deficit in the first inning and ultimately dropped their non-conference matchup to Pennsylvania College of Technology 9-3 on Thursday afternoon at Bruggeworth Field.
 
The Colonels fell to 15-4 on the season and currently stand at 6-2 in the Landmark Conference. With the win, the Wildcats improved to 8-11 overall and remain at 0-3 in the United East Conference.
 
Penn College started the game off strong with their first five batters reaching base safely. They racked up seven runs in the top half of the first inning to jump out to a 7-0 lead.
 
Wilkes threatened to respond in the bottom of the inning as Matthew Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) ripped a single to left center, followed by a hit-by-pitch for Luke Spencer (Lehman, PA/Lake Lehman). The Colonel's threat was extinguished after two strikeouts ended the inning.
 
Ryan Cosby (Buford, GA/Mountain View (GA)) took the mound in relief in the second inning and overcame a leadoff walk with a flyout to Evan Melberger (West Pittston, PA/Wyoming Area) in right field. He received some help from Zack Luksic (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) behind the dish as the catcher threw out the leadoff runner on an attempted steal of second base. A groundout to Spencer at third base got Cosby off the field after facing just four batters.
 
Cosby returned to the bump in the third and quickly retired the first two batters with a pair of strikeouts swinging. After allowing a single, the senior righthander got the fourth batter of the inning to ground into a 4-6 fielder's choice. He worked a quick 1-2-3 inning for Wilkes in the top of the fourth after fanning the first batter and getting another Wildcat to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Wilkes got another 1-2-3 inning out of Cosby in the fifth with a groundout to Nate Loch at second base, a fly out to Ryan Ruddy (Roaring Brook Township, PA/North Pocono) in center and a strikeout swinging. Cosby continued to deal on the mound for the Blue and Gold in the sixth, picking up his third-straight three-up, three-down inning by way of a flyout to Connor Morgan (Lehman, PA/Lake Lehman) in left, another strikeout swinging and a flyout to Ruddy.
 
Wilkes threatened once again in the bottom half of the sixth as Jimmy Brazofsky (Park Ridge, NJ/Park Ridge) wore the third pitch he saw and swiftly stole second base before first baseman Devin Markert (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) worked a 3-2 walk to put two runners on. Penn College's pitcher got himself out of a jam with a strikeout to preserve the seven-run lead.
 
The Wildcats tacked on one run in the seventh on a double to left, however Cosby prevented further damage and exited with only one earned run through 6.0 innings.
 
Wilkes broke Penn College's shutout in the seventh when Luksic drove in Jacob Cambria (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia) from third base on a sac-fly to center to make the score 8-1. The Colonels cut the deficit to six when Brazofsky doubled down the left field line, knocking in Loch from second base.
 
The Wildcats built their lead back up to seven when they drove in a run in the top of the eighth inning.
 
Wilkes put together a rally in their last at-bats of the ballgame by loading the bases with one out. Ma. Show came in to score from third on a wild pitch to make the score 9-3, however that was all she wrote for the Colonels.
 
Colby Butczynski (Nanticoke, PA/Greater Nanticoke) was charged with his first loss of the season, falling to 0-1 on the season. Cosby put in a dominant six innings of relief pitching, striking out six batters and only allowing one run. Ma. Show led the Colonels with two hits while Luksic and Brazofsky tallied one RBI each.
 
Starting pitcher Jason Cute evened out his record at 1-1 after going 3.0 innings and striking out four Colonels. Mason Balfan entered for the final three innings to earn his first save of the season. The Wildcats enjoyed three-hit performances from Adam Aldenderfer and Quinn Hanafin. Meanwhile,  Matt Munoz drove in a pair of RBIs.
 
Wilkes returns to Bruggeworth Field on Tuesday, April 2 when they host Landmark Conference opponent University of Scranton for a 3:30 p.m. showdown.