Two Wyoming Area graduates and one from Pittston Area are contributing regularly as freshmen on the Wilkes University baseball team.
Hunter Lawall leads the team in pitching wins and fellow Wyoming Area graduate Evan Melberger is tied for the lead in walks. Devin Markert, an infielder from Pittston Area, has started more than half the games.
Lawall is 3-0 with four appearances, including two starts.
In his first college start March 8, Lawall worked seven innings in a 3-1, eight-inning victory over Norwich, giving up just two hits and striking out nine without walking a batter. He again allowed just one run in his March 16 start against DeSales, giving up five hits and three walks while striking out seven in six innings.
Lawall has a 5.06 earned run average. He has given up 15 hits and five walks while striking out 18 in 16 innings.
Through Friday’s game, Melberger had played in 17 of 19 games, making nine starts.
The outfielder had drawn nine walks, helping him to a .422 on-base percentage, second-best among the team’s seven regulars. He was also on the team with four stolen bases.
Melberger was batting .188 with nine runs, a double and four RBI.
Markert had played in 14 games, including 10 starts. He was batting .171 with seven runs, two doubles, six RBI and six walks.
Wilkes is 2-5 in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom and 8-11 overall after outlasting city rival King’s, 16-15, in 11 innings Friday.
Markert started at third base in that game and was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored.
Chase Yochem, an outfielder/pitcher from Wyoming Area, put King’s ahead in the top of the 11th with a home run. He was 2-for-6 with three runs scored in the game.
