HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 4, 2023) – Junior Frank Tonina provided the go ahead RBI double in the top of the eighth, while senior Anthony Pron earned his third win of the season as the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team took down #5 Wilkes in the MAC Freedom Tournament play-in game by a score of 6-5 Thursday afternoon at the Debaun Athletic Complex.

The win matches up the Ducks against the #1 seed in the tournament Arcadia, whomst the Ducks saw three times this season in Punta Gorda, Florida. All three games were highly competitive and neither team won by more than one run. Stevens now has a 27-14 record this year and defeated Wilkes 3-1 in the season series.

Along with Tonina's clutch hit, senior Michael Reyes hit a three run bomb to right center in the third inning which tied the game after the Ducks got down early. Sophomore Eli Somers, who has been one of the better bats in the Duck lineup down the stretch, also tallied an RBI.

Trailing by one run heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Ducks were running out of time to get back into control of the game. Already with one out in the inning, sophomore Liam DeRubertis got on base with a single to right field. Sophomore Victor Schilleci then walked in the next at-bat to put runners on second and first. Senior Chris Davis followed that up by grounding into an out. Both runners advanced. With Tonina up to bat, The Wilkes pitcher Mike Show (2-3) threw a wild pitch which scored DeRubertis and allowed Schilleci to get to third. Tonina then doubled to right center to score Schillecci, which put the Ducks in front.

Pron (3-1) closed out the top of the ninth to secure the win for the Ducks. Pron came into the game in the fifth inning and was stellar. Despite allowing two runs on four hits, he matched his career high in strikeouts with eight.

The game started off much differently for the Ducks. Wilkes scored three runs in the top of the first as they looked to make a road statement.

Despite being held scoreless for the first two innings, the Ducks tied things up in the third. Junior Jack Stafford and sophomore Evan Pravato each had singles to give Stevens some action on the base path. Reyes then cranked a home run right center to tie things up at three.

Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning, leading off for Stevens was Stafford, who was hit by a pitch. In the next at-bat, Somers then hit a single to right field. Show, the right fielder at the time for Wilkes, had the ball go right under his glove. Stafford made his way around all the bases to score and Somers made his way to third as the Ducks held a slim 4-3 lead.

Wilkes cashed in for two runs in the top half of the eighth to take a 5-4 lead late. Devin Markert came into the game as a pinch hitter and skied a ball over the right field wall to tie the game. Max Alessi then had a RBI single to give the Colonels the lead. They would go down one, two, three in the top of the ninth as the Ducks secured the win.

Senior Justin Doyle started the game for Stevens. He allowed three runs on eight hits in just 3.1 innings of action.

Up Next: Baseball now takes on the #1 seed Arcadia in the MAC Freedom Semifinals. The games will be played in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Game one is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. Game two will be played on Sunday at 12 p.m. Game three (if necessary) will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Arcadia won two of the three meetings in the regular season Links for live stats and video are posted to StevensDucks.com.