WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (March 29, 2021) – Johnny Albrecht hit his team-high fourth home run of the season and Ryan Shea did not allow an earned run over 5.0 innings on the hill to give the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team an 8-5 win in the series finale against Wilkes University Monday after dropping the first contest of the doubleheader 6-0.

With the doubleheader split, the Ducks won the series against the Colonels 3-1 and move to 10-4 overall to sit in third place in the MAC Freedom standings.

"It was nice to win the series three out of four over the past few days," head coach Kristaps Aldins said. "With that being said, the first game certainly did not play out the way we were expecting of hoping>"

There were some nail-biting moments late in the second contest as Wilkes loaded the bases with nobody out after cutting the deficit to three at 8-5. Anthony Pron was able to get out of the jam, though, as he struck out back-to-back-to-back hitters to seal the victory for Stevens.

Stevens was unable to complete the sweep in the series, however, as Wilkes took the third game of the set 6-0 behind a stellar complete-game shutout effort from Tony Molitoris who allowed just three hits over 7.0 innings to pick up the win.

Leo Bristow started things on the mound for the Ducks in game one and had some tough luck in the opening inning as he gave up a pair of unearned runs on a two-out RBI single to give the Colonels a 2-0 lead.

Wilkes then added two more in the second thanks to a two-run double down the left field line off the bat of Dominick Bayo to make the score 4-0.

With Jacob Buurman on in relief, the Colonels continued their trend as they tacked on a pair in the third as well on back-to-back RBI singles.

Michael Reyes replaced Buurman on the hill and was effective on the bump, giving up just one hit and fanning two over two scoreless innings of work.

In the top of the sixth still trailing 6-0, the Ducks got their best scoring threat of the game as Frankie Tonina laced his first collegiate hit into the right center field gap for a double and Brett Mendez drew a walk to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Molitoris (2-0) did not blink on the mound, however, as he got three straight flyouts to end the threat and the inning and struck out a pair in the seventh to earn his second win of the season.

"The loss was highlighted by a solid outing on the mound from Reyes as well as a well-struck lead off pinch-hit double in the top off the sixth by Frankie for his first collegiate hit," Aldins said.

In the second contest of the day, the two teams were scoreless until the bottom of the third when the Colonels took advantage of a two Duck errors in the inning to take a 2-0 lead for the second straight game.

Stevens, and more specifically Albrecht, responded this time in the next half inning. After Nate Zuckerman walked to lead off the inning, the first-year lifted a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall to tie the contest at two. Albrecht now ranks second in the MAC Freedom with his four dingers this season.

The Ducks used a little small ball in the next inning to take their first lead of the day as Tobio laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to bring home Christian Kreiser, who doubled to lead off the inning, and make it 3-2.

"Albrecht had yet another big swing on the baseball to draw us even in the fourth with his homer," Aldins said. "Tobio had an outstanding game receiving and blocking behind the plate and also contributed offensively with some lengthy at bats that resulted in free bases."

Shea then jogged out to the hill and produced his second straight shutdown inning to keep the score at 3-2 before his day was finished. In 5.0 innings, the sophomore lefty gave up two unearned runs on five hits while striking out five.

In the top of the sixth, Stevens added another run after Thomas Paulich hit a leadoff single and then eventually raced home on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.

The big inning for the Ducks game in the seventh as they tacked on four important insurance runs in the inning on just one hit.

Tobio was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a Mendez bunt single. After Zuckerman sacrificed them both into scoring position and Paulich was intentionally walked to load the bases, Wilkes got the second out of the inning on a fielder's choice as they threw out Tobio on a force at the plate.

The two-out rally began there, though, as Mendez came home on a balk and Paulich, Albrecht and Reyes all scored on bases loaded walks to swell the lead to 8-2.

With Smith now on the mound, Wilkes cut into the deficit by one on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the eighth, but Smith got a strikeout to end the inning.

Pron came on in the ninth and got himself into a bit of trouble as a walk, two hit batters and two singles cut the score to 8-5 and loaded the bases with nobody out. The sophomore was not rattled by allowing his first runs of the season, however, as he struck out the five, six and seven hitters in the order to strand three Colonels on base.  

"Shea was excellent, once again, in picking up the win in five strong innings," Aldins said. "He was able to turn the ball over to Smitty and Anthony with the lead. Ryan competed really competed well for us today and gave us the boost of energy we needed."

The Ducks were out-hit in both contests, but the combination of Shea (3-0), Alex Smith and Pron were able to dance out of trouble multiple times in the victory as they stranded 11 total baserunners in the win. Additionally, Stevens took advantage of 11 total walks by Colonel pitching to plate the eight runs.

Stevens returns to action Saturday, April 10 with a doubleheader against Misericordia on the road starting at 12:00 p.m.

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