EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. – The Wilkes University baseball team celebrated senior day at Bruggeworth Field on Saturday, opening the day with a 10-4 win over Elmira College and closing with a narrow 6-5 defeat to Hobart College under the flood lights.

Wilkes finished the day 16-11 overall after the split.

Game One – Wilkes 10, Elmira 4
Elmira started the scoring in the top of the second, after a single to center field scored the runner on second. The Colonels then exploded in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs to take the lead. Nathan Loch (Effort, PA/Pleasant Valley) started the scoring with a bases-clearing double, plating PJ Stonsby (Bedford, NY/Fox Lane) and Jacob Cambria (Elysburg, PA/Southern Columbia) on the initial hit, and adding Evan Melberger (West Pittston, PA/Wyoming Area) before being caught in a rundown.

The Colonels loaded the bases back up with a single from Jack Smale (Kunkletown, PA/Pleasant Valley) and a hit by pitch for Jack Mathis (Exeter PA/Wyoming Area), with the former scoring as Andres Cruz (Wayne, PA/Radnor) reached on an error by the Soaring Eagle shortstop. Cruz was then caught stealing at second, but not before Mathis crossed home on the throw to give the navy and gold a 5-1 lead.

Elmira added one in the top of the fourth on an RBI double, but Smale's sacrifice fly in their half of the frame restored the four-run advantage.

Three consecutive hits from Stonsby, Cambria, and Melberger in the bottom of the fifth drove in three more runs for Wilkes, extending the lead to 9-3. An RBI single up the middle for Devin Markert (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) in the sixth made it 10-3 in favor of the home team, a lead they held until the 10-4 final score.

Sal Collelo (2-0) picked up the win in three innings of relief for Hunter Lawall (West Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area), allowing just one run on three hits with three strikeouts. Lawall went the first four allowing three earned runs with five strikeouts. As a part of senior day, Daniel Storm (Wilmington, DE/Archmere Academy) pitched the eighth inning and struck out the side to cheers from the home crowd. At the plate, Cambria led the team with three hits, followed by Stonsby with two. Loch led the team with three runs batted in.

Xander Canfield (1-1) was given the loss for Elmira, pitching four innings and allowing six runs (four earned), on five hits. Canfield led the team at the plate as the lone Soaring Eagle with multiple hits.

Prior to this game, Wilkes celebrated the careers of Melberger, Storm, Mike Show (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights), Gavin Lacoe (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights), Lawall, Ethan Jezewski (Millerstown, PA/Greenwood), Cambria, and Markert as a part of the senior day festivities.
 
Game Two – Wilkes 5, Hobart 6
AJ Levandoski (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) got things going for the Colonels, picking up his 100^th career strikeout in the top of the first inning. In the second Hobart took the lead with five runs on three hits and one Colonel error.

Wilkes responded with a rally in their half of the second inning, as Cruz got the party started with a triple to center field. After a Mi. Show walk, Jake Miller (Chambersburg, PA/James Buchanan) doubled to right center to drive home Cruz to put the navy and gold on the board. Michael Sabella (Cornelius, NC/Hough) then cleared the bases with a double in the next at-bat to make it a 5-3 ballgame.

The Colonels looked to have tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Smale singled through the left side to score Sabella. Stonsby also crossed home, but was called out for failing to touch third base and the Colonels ended the inning down 5-4.

After one more Statesmen run in the top of the fifth, Wilkes reliever Ethan Grodack (Lake Ariel, PA/Western Wayne) kept another off the board in the eighth getting out of a bases-loaded jam with an emphatic strikeout. In the bottom of the frame, Miller drove home Mi. Show with an RBI double to put the Colonels back within a run.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jeremiah Atwell (Eastlake, OH/Willoughby South) reached first on a dropped third strike, followed by a Melberger walk to the go-ahead run on first. In the end, a Mathis lineout to second base ended the late rally, and the Statesmen took the 6-5 victory.

Levandoski (4-2) was given the loss, allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts. Grodack matched Levandoski with five strikeouts in two innings of relief. At the plate, Miller led the Colonels with two hits and two RBIs.

Teck Nash (5-1) earned the win, allowing four runs (earned) on five hits through five innings of work with six strikeouts. Max Friedlander made his fourth save of the year, pitching the final inning. Jack O'Neil led the Statesmen with two hits and two RBIs of his own.

The Colonels get a day of rest before returning to the diamond on Monday, April 13^th as they travel to face Widener University at 3:30 p.m.