APRIL 29, 2018

MONARCH BASEBALL TEAM HONORS SENIORS WITH 15-7 VICTORY

WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College baseball team continued their late-season surge with a 15-7 Senior Day victory over College of New Rochelle on Sunday afternoon at Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre.

The Monarchs improve to 19-14 overall with their 11th win in the past 12 games. The Blue Angels drop to 9-26 in their first year as a varsity program.

New Rochelle opened up a 2-0 lead in the first inning when they were able to string together three straight hits with two outs. Albert Rodriguez hit a double to the center field fence to score two runs before Anthony Peacock recorded a strikeout to get out of the inning. The Monarchs got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning when Kyle Lupas doubled down the line in left to score Christian Pack from third with two outs. Pack got on with a single to left and then stole second before advancing to third on a passed ball.

King's took the lead in the third inning on a Matt Mellinger double to right center. Pack once again started the rally with a single to center. Chris Rebar walked and then Pack tagged up on a deep fly ball to right off the bat off Lupas. Rebar stole second a pitch before Mellinger knocked a 2-1 pitch into the gap in right-center for a two-run double giving King's a 3-2 lead. Sean Padden knocked in Mellinger with a single to left but was thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw towards home.

The Blue Angels responded with a run of their own in the fourth on two doubles to cut the Monarchs advantage to 4-3. However, the Monarchs came right back in the bottom of the inning with three more runs. Bruce Breithaupt led off with a double to right center and then scored on a single to center by Sean McKee. McKee advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a ground ball to short where he beat the throw to third and the ball sailed into the Monarch dugout. Brad Wilkins followed that up with a single to left to put runners on the corners. Pack then knocked in King's third run of the inning with a sac fly to deep center.

New Rochelle made it a 7-3 game in the fifth with a single and a deep double to the fence in left with two outs. Once again the Monarchs countered with another three-run inning in the bottom half. All three of the runs came with two outs after Mellinger led the inning off by being hit by a pitch. McKee drove him home with a triple to left and then scored on a wild pitch. Zack Godfrey walked, Wilkins singled, and the Pack walked to load the bases. Godfrey made it 10-4 when he scored on another wild pitch.

On the mound, Alex Bruneio, who entered the game in the fifth for Peacock, shut down the Blue Angels in the sixth and seventh innings with six straight outs including three straight strikeouts between the last two batters of the sixth and the first of the seventh. Kyle Lupas hit his second home run of the weekend in the bottom of the sixth when he led off the sixth with a bomb that hit off the top of the fence in left. King's recorded their fourth three-run inning of the game in the seventh to increase their lead to 14-4. Wilkins walked, Pack hit a bloop single to right, and then Rebar brought them home with a double to the left-centerfield gap. After Lupas was walked and Rebar moved to third on a wild pitch Mellinger drove in Rebar on a groundball to second. In the eighth inning, Breithaupt singled up the middle and McKee doubled before Kyle Friebolin knocked in a run with a pinch-hit groundout to short.

The Blue Angels scored three runs in the ninth on a sac fly to center and back-to-back singles with two outs before Bruneio ended the game with a strikeout.

Sean McKee was a homer shy of the cycle with three hits and had two RBI and two runs scored. Christian Pack had three hits and scored three times while knocking in one. Seniors Bruce Breithaupt, Brad Wilkins, and Kyle Lupas had two hits each. Lupas knocked in two including his fourth home run of the year. Matt Mellinger knocked in three runs on two hits.

Senior Anthony Peacock got the start on the mound and picked up a no-decision after lasting four innings. He allowed three runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Alex Bruneio improved to 2-2 on the hill pitching the final five innings. He allowed four runs on six hits and struck out six.

After the game ended the Monarchs immediately started scoreboard watching of the Manhattanville-Delaware Valley game that was in the seventh inning of the second game of a doubleheader. King's needed Manhattanville to lose in their final conference game of the year to stay alive in the postseason race. The Aggies held on for a 5-0 victory setting off a small celebration as the Monarchs now control their own destiny in qualifying for the program's third straight MAC Freedom Tournament.

King's will close out the regular season on Monday afternoon when they host Delaware Valley University at Lipo Field at 4:00 p.m. in a must-win game. A victory over the Aggies will give King's the fourth and final spot in next week's conference championships while a loss will end the season.