APRIL 20, 2016
MONARCH BASEBALL SCORE 10 RUNS IN FIRST TO DEFEAT SUMMIT 21-2
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College baseball team erupted for 10 runs in the first inning en route to a 21-2 win over Summit University on Wednesday afternoon at Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre.
King's improves to 19-8 with the win while Summit falls to 5-20-1.
The Monarchs scored in the first at-bats for the 15th time this season and after their 10 runs today are outscoring their opponents 48-13 in the first inning. The first four batter reached base on three hits and a hit-by-pitch and six different hitters collected eight hits during the inning in which King's sent 15 batters to the plate. Sean Padden knocked in three runs during the inning in his two at-bats and Kyle Lupas broke a King's College record by being hit by a pitch twice in the same inning.
The Defenders were able to get on the scoreboard with a run in the second but King's got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Chris Rebar singled down right field line to score Sean McKee. Summit then scored their second run in the third inning to cut the score to 11-2.
King's added a run in fourth on an RBI single by Tom Gibbons, and then four more in the fifth on another RBI single by Gibbons, a RBI single by Bruce Breithaupt, and then a sacrifice fly to left center by Kyle Lupas to score Gibbons and take a 16-2 lead.
In the seventh inning King's increased the lead to 19-2 when Lupas hit an RBI double to the right centerfield gap, Padden hit an RBI single through the left side and then Lupas scored when Christian Pack hit a ball to right field that fell in but Padden was thrown out at second. In the eighth Nick Deno knocked in a run and then came around to score two batters later when John Wickiser grounded out to second.
Tom Gibbons had four hits in six at-bats with two runs scored and two RBIs. Sean McKee had three hits with two RBIs and scored five times. Chris Rebar had three hits in three at-bats with three RBIs and three runs scored. Bruce Breithaupt and Ryan Hydock also had three hits each and Sean Padden had two and knocked in four runs. 11 different Monarchs recorded at least one hit in the game as King's racked up a total of 24 in 48 at-bats.
King's used five different pitchers on the mound as Jason Nobrega started and got the win and allowed one run on three hits and a strikeout in two innings. Connon Balloun allowed one unearned run on three hits in his two innings of work while Connor Agnew struck out two and walked one in his two hitless innings. Anthony Peacock struck out two and walked one with one hit allowed in two innings of work and Kyle Marinelli allowed one hit and stuck one out pitching the ninth.
Joe Chupick led the Defenders with three hits and an RBI. Jake Ingle took the loss on the mound as he allowed 11 runs, six earned, 10 hits and walked one.
King's will return to conference play on Friday when they host local rival and current conference leader Misericordia University at 3:30 p.m. After Friday's single game King's will play a doubleheader at Misericordia on Saturday. The three-game set will have serious impact on playoff implications for both teams as the Cougars stand just two games up on the Monarchs in the conference standings heading into the final two weekends.