Errors doom Colonels against Rutgers-Newark

The Wilkes University men’s baseball team fell to Rutgers-Newark last Tuesday night by the score of 7-2. Though the Colonels initially led the contest, light hitting and four errors combined to do them in against the Scarlet Raiders.

Freshman starter Zachary Lazar received the ball for the Colonels, and took the mound in the bottom of the first with a 2-0 lead thanks in part to an unearned run and freshman outfielder Scott Skammer’s RBI single. Wilkes managed to tax Rutgers’ freshman starter Michael Schneider, who was shaky in allowing walks to Michael McAndrew and Matthew Ruch, as well as hits to Skammer and Carmen Lopresto. Though senior Tom Buckler hit into a double play to end the inning, it seemed as though they had Rutgers’ number.

The Scarlet Raiders threatened in the bottom of the frame after putting on two runners via a single up the middle and a hit batsman, but a liner to Ruch ended the inning without any damage.

The score would remain unchanged until the bottom of the third inning, when Rutgers finally got to Lazar. After getting the first batter of the inning to fly harmlessly to center, he gave up a single followed by a sacrifice to leave a man on second. Two consecutive hits and an error in left field tied the score at two apiece. The damage could have been worse, but the Colonels settled down and retired the side to end the inning without giving up any further runs.

Al Clocker was able to single and steal second in the fourth inning, giving the Colonels their first runner in scoring position since the opening frame, but Schneider was able to end the threat without trouble. Rutgers countered in the bottom of the fourth inning, however, scoring three runs behind three hits and two Wilkes errors.

After striking out the first batter of the inning, Lazar gave up a single to Rutgers’ freshman Robert Kistner, who then promptly stole second base. Michael DiCenso singled to drive in Kistner, and later reached third after the throw attempting to catch him stealing second sailed into center field. A double and a series of errors afterwards gave Rutgers the lead, 5-2.

From then on out it was all Rutgers, as the Scarlet Raiders scored runs in the fifth and sixth inning to increase their lead to 7-2. The Colonels threatened in the top of the seventh, loading the bases, but a fly to center ended the inning and effectively ended the game for Wilkes.

“They made some nice plays on balls we hit hard,” said Clocker. “In the seventh inning with the bases loaded we hit two straight liners that they were able to come up with.”

Clocker credited the Colonels’ bullpen for keeping the game manageable until the end.

“Our pitchers kept us within striking distance. Our bullpen of Seibel, Flecknoe, and Trento threw extremely well.”

The Colonels managed only five hits following their first inning outburst, and the defense failed to support their pitching.

“We try to keep having good at bats to keep pressure on their pitcher,” said Clocker, on whether or not an offense tends to press when the hits aren’t coming. “Unfortunately we hit into some tough outs with runners in scoring position.”

“[Schneider] settled in and they made some great outs,” said Buckler. “Our defense made some errors and our bats went silent after theirs heated up. We [can] obviously score- we scored over 60 runs in two games [against Baptist Bible and PSU Wilkes-Barre]; we just need to go to the plate with more confidence.”

Wilkes’s next game is today at 3:30 p.m. against the University of Scranton at home.