EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. — The New Jersey City University baseball team faced off with non-conference foe Wilkes University on Wednesday afternoon, March 15, on the road. The Gothic Knights saw some stellar work on the mound in relief from senior righthander Justin Wiltsey (Hamilton Township, N.J./Hamilton West), but unfortunately fell to the Colonels in a low-scoring, 4-2 contest.

NJCU (4-3) went down one-two-three in the top half of the first and Wilkes (6-6) followed with a two-run home half to take a 2-0 lead and chase starter senior Julian Fernandez (Union, N.J./Union) from the game. Wiltsey entered in the bottom of the second and worked his way into and out of trouble, allowing one run on a two-out single — however he would hunker down over his final 5.1 innings of work without allowing another earned run over 6.0 total on the mound to go with six strikeouts, while allowing just three hits.

The Gothic Knights finally made some noise in the top of the third. With runners on first and second and two outs, senior designated hitter Jimmy Vizzoni (Hamilton, N.J./Trenton Catholic) knocked a single to left to plate senior leftfielder Caleb Ware (Newark, N.J./University) from second to make it 3-1. Wiltsey again had some trouble in the home half, loading the bases with two outs, but struck out back-to-back Colonel hitters to keep it at 3-1. He was on his way to a scoreless fourth, as well, however an error with two outs and one runner on resulted in Wilkes' fourth and final run of the day, making it 4-1 at the time.

Neither side got anything going until the top of the seventh as Jersey City had another opportunity. Rookie shortstop Arian Lunar (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) reached on a one-out walk and then stole second. With two outs and Lunar in scoring position, junior first baseman Garrett Allo (Monroe, N.J./East Brunswick Tech) singled up the middle to plate the freshman and make it 4-2. Unfortunately, the Gothic Knights were unable to muster any further offense for the remainder of the day and fell to the Colonels.

Up Next:
NJCU's game against Wilkes today was a pit-stop on the squad's way to Marietta, Ohio. The Green and Gold will play four games in four days on the campus of #20 Marietta College as part of the Marietta/BSN Invitational from Thursday-Sunday, March 16-19. The Gothic Knights first face the highly-ranked Pioneers on Thursday night beginning at 7:00 p.m. to get things started. They then face Johnson & Wales University on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m., before another evening match-up with Marietta at 5:15 p.m. After a day off on Saturday, things conclude on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. against Kalamazoo College.