ST. DAVIDS, PA (April 27, 2019) – The King's College baseball team began their Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom weekend series at Eastern University on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader split. The hosts shook off a Monarch rally to force extra innings in the opener to walk-off with an 8-7 nine-inning victory before Dan Hartson pitched his third complete game of the year to lead the Monarchs to a 5-1 victory in the nightcap.

The Monarchs fought back in the opener after the Eagles scored three runs in the first, one in the third, and three more in the fifth to take a 7-2 lead. Tyler Reynolds started the rally in the sixth with his seventh home run of the year to left on the third pitch of the inning. Noah Adams walked and advanced to second before Matt Dobeck knocked him in with a single to center cutting the lead to three runs heading into the seventh.

Eastern got the first two outs of the inning before Kyle Friebolin singled and Reynolds walked. Adams knocked in two runs with a double to the gap in left center and Jonathan Hoyt came up with a big pinch hit single to center to plate the game-tying run on the second pitch. The score stayed tied until the ninth when Eastern hit three singles, two with two outs to plate the game-winning run.

Dobeck finished the game with three hits in five at-bats with a run and an RBI. Reynolds also had three hits while knocking in two and scoring twice. Christian Pack and Hartson had two hits apiece as the Monarchs recorded 15 hits including seven against EU ace Mickey Foytik who pitched four innings. Colby Toth pitched the first four innings and allowed four runs, two earned on eight hits. Jacob Lupas threw one inning allowing three hits and three runs, two earned. Cooper Johnson was excellent in 3.2 innings but recorded the loss on the mound allowing the game-winning run to score in the ninth. He gave up just four hits while facing 15 batters with three of those hits coming in the ninth inning.

Hartson made sure King's would come back to Wilkes-Barre with one win as the senior continued making his case for Player of the Year in the second game. On the mound he threw his third complete game of the season throwing just 88 pitches. The Eagles scored one run on six hits with Hartson getting 11 ground ball outs.

He started the scoring with an RBI single to center in the third scoring Pack from second with two outs in the inning. After the Eagles tied the game up with an unearned run in the fourth, KC came right back in the top of the fifth as the top of the order scored two runs. Dobeck led off with a single to center and then Pack doubled to left. Dobeck scored on a wild pitch and two batters later Matt Mellinger knocked in Pack with a sac fly to left field.

The Monarchs added insurance runs in the sixth as Sean McKee doubled to right center, moved up to third on a groundout to the left side, and then scored on a wild pitch. Back-to-back hits by Dobeck and Pack plated another run to set the final score.

Dobeck had another three hits in game two to give him six on the day. The leadoff hitter scored twice. Pack was credited for two hits and two runs scored and an RBI. The Monarchs knocked out another 11 hits as seven of the nine hitters recorded at least one hit.

King's and Eastern will conclude the series in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday afternoon as the Monarchs will honor their six senior student-athletes and one student assistant coach. First pitch from Lipo Field is scheduled for 12 pm.