WILKES-BARRE, PA (April 9, 2019) – Matt Dobeck had five hits and scored five runs while knocking in three to lead the King's College baseball team to a 23-4 victory over visiting Clarks Summit University on Tuesday afternoon from Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre.
The leadoff hitter had such a great day on Tuesday that even his only out of the day, a hard shot up the middle that deflected off the CSU pitcher's glove and right to the second baseman in the fourth, scored a run. Dobeck was one of 12 Monarchs to get at least one hit and one of 12 to score at least a run. King's batted around in two separate innings during the game. The 23 runs and 25 hits were the most the Monarchs have had in a game since racking up 27 hits in a 25-5 victory at Delaware Valley in 2017.
CSU (2-13) put runners on second and third with one out in the first on Monarchs starter Landon La Bar. The Defenders took the early lead when La Bar picked off the runner at second and the runner from third beat the throw home for the first run of the game. Dobeck led off the bottom of the inning with a single to shortstop and advanced to second on a wild throw. The sophomore scored on the next play as Christian Pack flew out to right and the right fielder's throw to third as Dobeck went to advance sailed out of play.
King's took the lead on the first pitch of the next inning as Tyler Reynolds crushed his second home run of the year against CSU over the fence in left. The Monarchs put runners on the corners with one out for Dobeck who laced a double to the wall in center to score a run. Pack made it 5-1 with his first hit of the game, a two-RBI single up the middle. The Defenders put the first two batters of the third on base with a double and a single, but La Bar was able to work out of the jam with a line out, a strikeout, and a flyball to right. Noah Adams made it 6-1 in the bottom of the inning with a two-out double over the center fielder's head.
Brandon Moffitt relieved La Bar in the fourth and shut the Defenders down in order on seven pitches. KC rewarded their reliever with a long wait to get back on the mound as King's scored seven runs on five hits and an error in the fourth to increase their lead to 13-1. Dobeck led the inning off with a single up the middle before stealing second. Pack singled to left and Dan Hartson walked to load the bases. After CSU made their first pitching change of the inning, Matt Mellinger singled through the left side to score two runs. Kyle Friebolin walked to reload the bases before Reynolds doubled down the leftfield line to plate another two runs. Sean McKee knocked in a run and reached first on a throwing error by the shortstop. Adams walked for the second time in the game to load the bases and force another call to the bullpen for the Defenders. Mike Armstrong hit a hard liner right at the third baseman for the first out of the inning before Dobeck knocked in a run with a groundout to the second baseman that the pitcher got a glove to deflect right to the fielder. Pack knocked in another run with his third single of the day before being pinch ran for by TJ Wozniak.
Moffitt pitched two innings of one-hit ball before being relieved by Aaron Polon in the sixth. CSU jumped on Polon early with three consecutive singles on just five pitches to load the bases with no outs. Polon got the next hitter to line out to Mellinger at first who stepped on the bag for a double play before Evan Rarick knocked a single up the middle to plate two runs and cut the advantage to 13-3. Hartson made a nice diving catch in right center for the final out of the inning. KC wasted little time getting the runs back in the bottom of the inning as Armstrong doubled down the line in left, Dobeck knocked him in with a double to right center and then two batters later Hartson hit the top of the wall in left for a double making it 15-3. Mellinger gave KC a 13-run cushion with a single up the middle.
CSU led off the seventh with back-to-back singles putting runners at the corners. King's gave up a run while getting two outs as Polon got the next batter to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. He got out of the inning with a pop up to first. The Monarchs once again responded with a big inning scoring five runs on five hits and two errors in the bottom of the seventh to increase the lead to 21-4.
Armstrong hit his second career home run against the Defenders with a three-run 400-foot bomb over the left field fence with one out in the inning. Dobeck singled through the left side and Jonathan Hoyt doubled to left center putting runners at second and third with two outs. Andrew Steidle knocked in a run with a single to left and after a pinch-hit walk to Andrew Roth, Reynolds knocked in another run with a bases-loaded walk in his second plate appearance of the inning.
King's loaded the bases in the eight with one out before Hoyt walked in a run and Steidle singled to left to knock in the final run of the game. Cole Keating pitched the final two innings for the Monarchs and faced just six batters while giving up just one hit.
The Monarchs got 23 different players into the game as Pack went 3-for-4 with three RBI to move into a tie for third on the King's modern era career hit list with Kyle Lupas at 175. Mellinger went 3-for-5 and knocked in three runs while Reynolds hit his fifth home run of the year and finished the game with two hits, four RBI, and three runs scored. Armstrong hit a three-run home run and had two hits and two runs scored in the game. Adams had a great day behind the plate going 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI.
La Bar got the win on the mound pitching the first three innings of a staff day for the Monarchs. The sophomore struck on two and allowed one run on four hits. Moffit had two strikeouts in two innings of relief allowing just one hit. Polon allowed three runs on six hits in his two innings of work before Keating finished up the final two innings.
The Monarchs will be back in action on Thursday when they begin their big weekend series with Wilkes University. King's will host the Colonels at Lipo Field on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 pm. The game was originally scheduled for Friday but has been pushed up to Thursday due to forecasted rain in the area on Friday. KC will then travel across the river on Saturday to take on WU in a doubleheader at Artillery Park in Kingston.
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