The Misericordia University baseball team was defeated at home by Wilkes, 3-1, Tuesday afternoon to open conference play. The Cougars drop to 10-8 (0-1 Freedom).

 

Nate Newman went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Mike Murphy had a hit, two walks and a run scored.

 

Murphy singled to second in the bottom of the first and advanced to second on a groundout. He scored on a Newman single to make it 1-0.

 

Randy Dengler put the Colonels on the board in the top of the fourth with a deep homer to center.

 

Shane Keister reached on a single and scored on an error in the fifth to give the Colonels a 2-1 advantage. Andrew Garafoli singled in the team's third and final run of the game.

 

Jamie Philippi pitched eight innings and struck out eight. He allowed two earned runs on five hits in the loss. Tom Buckler threw seven innings for the Colonels, allowing seven hits and striking out five.

 

The Cougars host Drew tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.