APRIL 30, 2016
MONARCHS WIN SEASON SERIES OVER FDU-FLORHAM WITH SPLIT
MADISON, N.J --- The King's College baseball team split a Saturday afternoon doubleheader with FDU-Florham in Madison, N.J. to win the season series over the Devils after winning Friday's opening game. The Devils were able to overcome a 7-1 deficit to win the opener 8-7 on a walk off hit in the eighth inning before the Monarchs won the nightcap 8-2.
King's is now 23-13 overall and finishes with a 11-10 conference record heading into next weekend's conference tournament. FDU-Florham is 15-20-1 and finishes conference play with a 8-13 mark. The 11 conference wins are the most for the Monarchs since they went 11-9-1 in the 2011 season, the last time they made the conference tournament before this year.
In the opener the Devils got on the board first with a run in the first inning. King's tied the game in the third when Chris Rebar knocked in Tom Gibbons. In the fourth inning the Monarchs took a 3-1 lead when Brad Wilkins hit an RBI single to center scoring Sean Padden and on the same the the centerfielder committed a fielding error allowing Christian Pack to score.
King's added on four runs in the fifth on five hits. Kyle Lupas knocked in the first two runs with a triple to center field. He then score on a single by Padden. Zack Godfrey knocked Padden in two batters later with a ground rule double. The Devils responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to 7-6.
The Devils were able to manufacture a run in the seventh to tie the game after the leadoff man got on due to a Monarch miscue in the field. FDU-Florham then won the game in the eighth with a base loaded walk off single with one out.
Rebar, Breithaupt, and Padden had two hits each in the game for the Monarchs. Dan Hartson got the loss in three innings of relief on the mound. He allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and three walks. Nick Deno got a no decision in 4.1 innings of work. He allowed five runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
In the nightcap King's wasted no time getting an early lead as Gibbons doubled down the right field line to lead off the game and then two batters later Breithaupt knocked him in with a single up the middle. After Lupas doubled to left center to put runners on second and third, Pack hit a two RBI single to center to give the Monarchs a 3-0 lead.
Two innings later Pack scored from second on a wild pitch and then a throwing error by the Devils catcher. Two batters later Ryan Hydock knocked in Hartson with a single to increase King's lead to 5-0. The Monarchs scored two more runs in the fourth when Lupas hit a single scoring Rebar, who led off the inning with a double, and then Breithaupt scored on a fielding error by the Devils on ball hit by Padden. FDU-Florham cut the lead to 7-1 with a run in the bottom of the inning.
The Monarchs were able to add an insurance run in the fifth when Breithaupt beat out an infield single to third to score Gibbons. A home run in the sixth by the Devils scored the final run of the game.
Gibbons led the Monarchs with four hits and two runs in the nightcap. Rebar and Breithaupt had three hits each while Lupas,and Pack had two hits each. Zach Palansky pitched a complete game five hitter with eight strikeouts to improve to 5-0 on the year.
Bruce Breithaupt and Chris Rebar each had five hits today while Tom Gibbons had four and Christian Pack and Kyle Lupas had three each. Breithaupt and Gibbons each scored three times while Rebar, Pack, Lupas, and Padden scored two runs each. Lupas led the team with three RBIs.
Fourth-seeded King's will next take on top-seeded Misericordia University in the first game of the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Tournament on Friday at 4:00 p.m. at Owls Field in West Lawn, PA.