The Wilkes University baseball team will head to Boyertown as the No. 2 seed in the Freedom Conference Baseball Tournament after finishing with a league record of 11-5 and will take on Alvernia in the opening round at 7:30 tonight.
All games will have live stats available for viewing at http://www.govaliants.com/inside/news/index.html?article_id=2972
The Colonels finished the regular season in a tie with Manhattanville, but since the Valiants swept the season series, they were awarded the No. 1 seed. Alvernia will enter as the No. 3 seed, while FDU-Florham won the play-in game against King’s College earlier this week.
After dropping its final two regular season league games, Wilkes bounced back to defeat Marywood and Scranton in a pair of non-conference games to end the season. The Colonels ended the regular season with a league-best 28-9 record and at one time held a No. 19 national ranking.
The Colonels are 3-3 against teams in the tournament having swept FDU-Florham and split with Alvernia while Manhattanville took a pair from Wilkes.
Manhattanville will enter the event with the league’s best batting average at .353, while FDU is third with a .340. Wilkes is a close fourth at .338 while Alvernia has the seventh-best batting average in the Freedom at .311. Where the Crusaders lack in hitting, they make up for it in pitching as they post the best ERA in the conference at 3.77 as well as strikeouts with 241. The Colonels currently have the third-best ERA in the Freedom at 5.11, while Tom Buckler has a league-leading nine wins this season.
Andrew Garofoli not only leads the team in hitting, but the Freedom Conference as well with a .463 batting average. The designated hitter has seven doubles, three triples, eight homers and 40 RBI. Freshman Matt Ruch is hitting .393 with a team-best 43 RBI and at one time held a 20-game hitting streak. He has also reached base in all but one game this season.
On the mound, Buckler is 9-3 this season with a 4.50 ERA and a team-high 53 strikeouts, while Ryan Fetterman is 5-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 27 strikeouts. In the bullpen, Sean Flecknoe has six of the team’s 10 saves and has only allowed one earned run in 18.1 innings pitched.
The tournament schedule is as follows:
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, May 1 (at Boyertown, Pa.)
Game 1: #5 FDU-Florham vs. #1 Manhattanville, 4:00 PM
Game 2: #3 Alvernia vs. #2 Wilkes, 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 2 (at Boyertown, Pa.)
Game 3: Loser Game #1 vs. Loser Game #2, 11:00 AM
Game 4: Winner Game #1 vs. Winner Game #2, 2:30 PM
Game 5: Winner Game #3 vs. Loser Game #4, 6:00 PM
Sunday, May 3 (at Boyertown, Pa.)
Game 6: Winner Game #4 vs. Winner Game #5, 12:00 PM
Game 7: Winner Game #4 vs. Winner Game #5 (If Necessary), 3:00 PM
TICKET PRICES
Day Tournament Pass
Adults $5 $10
Seniors $4 $8
Students $2 $4
Under 6 Free Free