APRIL 20, 2017

THREE-RUN SEVENTH DIFFERENCE IN MONARCH LOSS TO PENN COLLEGE

WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The Penn College baseball team scored three runs with two outs in the seventh inning to defeat King's College 5-3 in a non-conference game on Thursday afternoon at Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre.

The Wildcats improve to 18-7 with the win while the Monarchs fall to 13-13.

Nick Deno got the start on the mound for King's and made quick work of the Wildcat batters forcing three groundouts to the left side on seven pitches in the first. In the bottom of the inning Dan Hartson singled up the middle and then Kyle Lupas and Shawn Stone drew two out walks to load the bases. However the Wildcats recorded a strikeout to get out of the inning with no runs scored.

Penn College manufactured a run in the second on a hit-by-pitch, a single to left, and a fielding error that allowed the runner to score from second. King's put two on in the bottom half when Zack Godfrey and Sean McKee drew two out walks but once again the Wildcats recorded a strikeout to get out of the inning before the Monarchs could score.

In a pre-determined staff day Billy Neill relieved Deno in the third and put Penn College down in order. Chris Rebar evened the score on the second pitch of the bottom of the inning with a leadoff home run that easily cleared the fence in right center. Lupas followed with a walk and Bruce Breithaupt singled to right with two outs but the Monarchs were not able to drive the go-ahead run in.

In the fourth Neill struck out the first two hitters before the next two got on via a single to left and a walk. He was able to get a groundball to short to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the inning McKee and Hartson drew one out walks and Rebar reached on a fielding error to load the bases. The Wildcats got a strikeout and a fly out to center to get out of the inning with no runs scored.

John Wickiser relieved Neill in the fifth and allowed a leadoff single and then the runner stole second. Wickiser got a strikeout and a foul out to third before Ben Flicker hit a double to the gap in left center to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. The Monarchs evened the score in the sixth on a RBI single to left by Rebar. McKee had legged out an infield single to first base and stole second setting up Rebar.

Matt Hassick, who relieved Wickiser in the sixth, struck out the first two batters of the seventh and got two strikes on the third before hitting the batter and walking the next two hitters. The Wildcats scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and then Brittan Kittle hit a triple to the left centerfield gap to give Penn College a 5-2 lead. The Monarchs received two out singles in the seventh and eighth innings but were not able to score.

In the ninth Rebar led off with a double down the right field line and was moved over to third on a single to leftfield by Lupas. Padden hit a sacrifice fly to center with one out to score Rebar but the Wildcats got a grounder to short to end the game.

Chris Rebar led the Monarchs with three hits in five at-bats with a double, a home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. Sean McKee had two hits and scored a run while drawing two walks. Dan Hartson, Kyle Lupas, Sean Padden, and Bruce Breithaupt had a hit each. Padden also knocked in a run. As a team the Monarchs were able to get runners on base recording nine hits and drawing seven walks but were unable to get the big hit to drive in a run. In total King's left 13 runners on including seven in the first three innings.

The Monarchs used five pitchers with no one pitching more than two innings and 35 pitches. Matt Hassick got the loss allowing three runs in two innings on one hit, and two walks.

Brittan Kittle led Penn College with two RBI on one hit. Richard Lennon recorded two hits and Ben Flicker had a hit, knocked in a run, and scored once. Aaron Palmer pitched 5.2 innings of relief to get the win on the mound. He allowed two runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

The Monarchs will return to the diamond on Saturday when they will face Wilkes University at PNC Field in Moosic. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the home of the Triple-A Railriders as part of the Bill Howerton Strike Out Cancer event.