EDWARDSVILLE – Despite hanging tough in game two, the Wilkes baseball team dropped a pair of Landmark Conference contests to the Catholic University Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at Bruggeworth Field.
 
The losses set the Colonels' season record back to 18-7. They currently stand at 9-5 in conference play. Catholic advanced to 20-7 overall and 10-4 in the Landmark.
 
Saturday's festivities began with a pregame ceremony to celebrate Robert Muller, a former baseball player in the New York Yankees' farm system and grandfather of current Wilkes catcher Max Alessi (Wallenpaupack, PA/Wallenpaupack). Muller and his family's generous contributions to the program made it possible for the team to sport new jerseys this season. Robert took the field before starting lineups to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, which was received by none other than his grandson Max.
 
Hunter Lawall (West Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area) got the start on the mound for Wilkes in the first game and found himself in a bit of trouble after hitting the first two batters he faced. The right hander found his stride in the third at-bat of the game, striking the Cardinal batter out on three pitches. He got the fourth batter to pop out to Chase Vrabel (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) at first base, who then stepped on the bag to double up the runner and record the final out.
 
Lawall fanned the leadoff batter in the second. After walking a batter, he got some help from Alessi behind the dish when the catcher gunned down a runner at second to complete the strikeout-throwout double play.
 
Right fielder Jimmy Brazofsky (Park Ridge, NJ/Park Ridge) clinched the first hit of the afternoon for Wilkes in the bottom of the second when he ripped a double down the right field line.
 
Catholic got on the board in the top of the third when two runners made it home on a wild pitch that took a bounce toward the Colonels' dugout, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.
 
 
Matthew Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) reached safely on a beautifully-placed bunt to lead off the bottom of the third, then moved across the diamond after a sacrifice bunt by Nathan Loch (Effort, PA/Pleasant Valley) and a well-timed steal of third. A pop-up to third and flyout to center kept Wilkes off the board.
 
Lawall stayed in his groove through the fourth and fifth frames, allowing no runs and sending the Cardinals down in order in the fifth. Catholic was able to tack on a run in the sixth on an RBI single to center, bringing their lead to 3-0.
 
Ryan Cosby (Buford, GA/Mountain View (GA)) took over the pitching duties in the seventh and erased a leadoff single with a 5-4-3 double play. He got the Colonels off the field with a three-pitch swinging strikeout to complete his first inning of work.In the eighth, Cosby allowed no runs on one hit while stranding no runners on base thanks to Alessi's second caught-stealing of the game.
 
Catholic added three insurance runs in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach. They would retire the Colonels in order to capture the 6-0 victory.
 
Lawall was charged with the loss, falling to 4-2 after striking out eight batters in six innings of work. In relief, Cosby allowed three runs on six hits while only walking one batter. Brazofsky led the team with two hits while Loch, Ma. Show and Todd Kolbicka (Hanover Twp., PA/Hanover) accounted for the other three.
 
Roman Tozzi went the distance on the mound for Catholic to improve to 6-0. He recorded 10 strikeouts on 109 pitches in the complete game shutout. Zach Burton, Jesse Lacefield and Derek Zelesnick all picked up RBIs in the win.
 
Zachary Lloyd (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) took to the rubber in game two and worked a quick 1-2-3 first inning.

A leadoff triple down the right field line by Loch put the Colonels in a prime opportunity to score their first run of the day. They did just that on the next at-bat by Luke Spencer (Lehman, PA/Lake Lehman), who grounded out to the pitcher and drew a throw to first to allow Loch to cross the plate and open a 1-0 lead.
 
The Cardinals erased the lead in the top of the third when a consecutive single and groundout to Ma. Show at shortstop scored two runs, giving the guests a 2-1 advantage.
 
Lloyd got back into his groove in the fourth with another three-up, three-down inning.

In the bottom of the frame, Zack Luksic (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) crushed the Colonels' second triple of the game down the right field chalk to put himself in scoring position. On the ensuing at-bat, Brazofsky singled past the second baseman to knock in Luksic and knot the score up at two runs apiece.
 
Following an uneventful fifth inning for Lloyd, Wilkes would reclaim the lead when Vrabel singled through the left side to score Jacob Cambria (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia) after the leadoff batter connected on a pitch for a double to left field.
 
In his sixth inning of work, Lloyd held the Cardinals' offense at bay yet again thanks to a flyout to Brazofsky right field, an unassisted putout by Vrabel at first and a flyout to Mike Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) in center. Ryan Sanderson (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) took over on the mound in the seventh to record the first out of the inning. After two more at-bats, Mi. Show came in to pitch from center field. The junior got the first batter he faced to ground out to Spencer at third before a single through the left side scored a pair of runs to give Catholic a 4-3 edge.
 
Neither team was able to put another run on the board as the Cardinals closed out game two to pick up their second win of the day.
 
Sanderson picked up his first loss of the season, falling to 3-1. Lloyd put together a solid start, allowing just two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Spencer, Vrabel and Brazofsky all recorded RBIs while Loch and Luksic both tallied triples.
 
Cormac Terry was credited with the win, improving to 2-1. Luke Cardman picked up his first save of the season after closing out the ninth for Catholic. Burton put together a three-RBI performance at the plate including a double as Matt Perlin went 2-3 and scored twice.
 
The Colonels and Cardinals wrap up their three-game conference set tomorrow, April 14. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.