APRIL 10, 2016

KING'S BASEBALL SWEEPS WILKES IN CONFERENCE TWINBILL

WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College baseball team used excellent pitching and timely hitting to sweep a doubleheader from Wilkes University on Sunday afternoon at Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre. The Monarchs rallied to win the opener 3-2 before taking the nightcap 8-1.

The Monarchs improve to 13-7 overall and 3-4 in MAC Freedom play while winning the season series against their cross-town rivals 2-1. Wilkes falls to 14-12 overall and 5-7 in conference play with the losses.

In game one Wilkes took an early 1-0 lead when Jarret Clymer led off the game with a triple and then was knocked in two batters later. King's tied the game up in the third when Tom Gibbons hit a lead off single, stole second, advanced to third on an error by the Colonel pitcher on a failed pickoff attempt, and then scored on a wild pitch. Wilkes retook the lead with a run in the fourth.

In the bottom of the seventh inning Brad Wilkins singled, Nick Trivigino walked, and then Felix Mascelli hit a pinch hit single on a bunt right in front of the plate. Gibbons popped up to short for the first out of the inning and then Chris Rebar tied the game up with a sacrifice fly to center scoring Wilkins. Bruce Breithaupt followed that with a walkoff single to left center on a 0-2 pitch scoring Trivigino with the winning run.

Nick Deno was excellent on the mound for the Monarchs pitching a complete game five hitter allowing just two runs with 11 strikeouts. He struck out two batters in five of the innings and retired 10 out of the last 11 batters he faced.

In the nightcap King's got on the board with three runs in the second inning to take the lead. Sean Padden drew a leadoff walk and then advanced to third on a Kyle Lupas single. Christian Pack knocked in Padden with a RBI single, Wilkins hit an infield single to second base to score Lupas, and then Trivigino knocked in Pack for the final run of the inning.

Wilkes almost scored in the third inning but Tom Gibbons threw out Wozniak who tried scoring from second on a single. The Monarchs added a run in the third after back-to-back singles to start the inning from Rebar and Breithaupt. Padden then knocked in Rebar when he grounded out to shortstop. They were able to tack on another run in the fourth when Wilkins singled, stole second, and then scored when Zack Godfrey singled up the middle.

King's added two more runs to their lead in the fifth when Pack doubled down the right field line to score Padden and then scored when Trivigino singled to right center. Wilkes was able to score one run in the sixth to cut the Monarch lead to 7-1 but King's responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Lupas hit a single scoring Rebar.

Zach Palansky pitched a complete game six hitter allowing just one run with three walks and four strikeouts.

Kyle Lupas had four hits for the Monarchs and extended his hit streak to six games and his streak of reaching base to 20. He had a RBI and scored a run while Brad Wilkins had four hits with a RBI and two runs scored. Christian Pack and Nick Trivigino had two hits and two RBIs each. Zack Godfrey, Bruce Breithaupt, and Tom Gibbons all had two hits for the Monarchs.

King's will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Delaware Valley University in a MAC Freedom game at Lipo Field beginning at 3:30 p.m.