APRIL 29, 2016

KING'S BASEBALL DOWNS FDU-FLORHAM TO EARN FIRST FREEDOM TOURNEY BERTH SINCE 2011

WILKES-BARRE -- Junior Tom Gibbons went 3-for-5, including the 100th hit of his career, as the King's College baseball team clinched its first Freedom Conference Tournament berth since 2011 with a 10-2 victory over visiting FDU-Florham Friday at Lipo Field.

With the win, King's improved to 22-12 overall and 10-9 in league play.  The Monarchs officially doubled their win output from a year ago as King's went 11-21 in 2015. FDU-Florham, meanwhile, slipped to 14-19 and 7-12. King's will be the fourth seed in next week's conference playoffs.

The Monarchs pushed across four runs in the first inning on the strength of a RBI double by Bruce Breithaupt, a run-scoring single from Sean Padden, and a pair of infield RBI grounders by Christian Pack and Brad Wilkins.

After FDU-Florham scored a run in the top of the fourth, King's countered with one in the bottom of the frame when Gibbons registered his second single of the day, stole second base, and scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Padden. 

The Monarchs added two more in the fifth when Zack Godfrey singled and scored on a RBI triple from Gibbons, who registered his 100th hit on the play. Chris Rebar then drove in Gibbons with a sacrifice fly to give the Monarchs a 7-1 lead. 

King's added three more in the sixth inning when Kyle Lupas doubled and scored on a triple by Sean Padden. Pack would then come up with a RBI single to push the lead to 10-1. FDU-Florham added a run in the seventh to set the final score.

Joining Gibbons offensively was Padden who was 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI for King's, and Breithaupt who finished 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI.  Pack and Wilkins both drive in two runs while Rebar added another RBI.

Andrew Fisher was thew winning pitcher for King's, allowing two runs on seven hits in seven innings. John Wickiser threw two scoreless innings of relief.

King's travels to Madison, NJ Saturday to wrap up its three-game series with FDU-Florham at 1:00 p.m.