EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University baseball team continued its hot play pushing its win streak to 11 games after posting an 11-5 non-conference victory over visiting Keystone College Thursday night at Bruggeworth Field.
 
Wilkes moved to 24-8 overall following its 11^th straight win dating back to April 1^st. Keystone dropped to 21-8 overall following the road defeat.
 
Wilkes struck early and often jumping out to a 10-0 lead after four innings of play. Zack Luksic (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) put the Colonels on the board in their first at-bats drilling a two-run home run. The lead grew to 5-0 after two innings as Wilkes added three more runs in the second. Nathan Loch (Effort, PA/Pleasant Valley) continued his hot bat hitting an RBI single to start off the scoring in the frame. Jack Mathis (Exeter PA/Wyoming Area) followed with an RBI when he reached on a fielder's choice. Luke Spencer (Lehman, PA/Lake Lehman) then hit an RBI groundout to complete the three-run inning.
 
Loch added his second and third RBIs of the contest when he doubled in two runs in the bottom of the fourth to give Wilkes a 7-0 advantage. Mathis followed with an RBI single and Luksic tripled home Mathis on the next at-bat. Jacob Cambria (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia) finished off the five-run inning when he hit a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Luksic on the play.
 
Keystone added three runs in the sixth which overshadowed a brilliant performance from starter Zachary Lloyd (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) who held the Giants scoreless through five innings allowing just three hits. Wilkes added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a Keystone throwing error before the Giants added two more runs in the eighth.
 
Ethan Grodack (Lake Ariel, PA/Western Wayne) pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings to finish off the non-league win not allowing a hit over his five batters faced.
 
Seven different Colonels reached the hit column led by Loch's 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Luksic followed going 2-for-4 with three RBIs while Trehnon Hugo (Wyalusing, PA/Wyalusing) added two hits while walking twice.
 
Lloyd earned his sixth win of the season going 7.2 innings allowing 11 hits and four earned runs while striking out four Keystone batters.
 
The Colonels remain idle through the Eastern holiday break before returning to action on Tuesday with a road non-conference game at defending national champion Misericordia University at 3:30 p.m. in Dallas, Pa.