APRIL 22, 2017
MONARCH BASEBALL VICTORIOUS OVER WILKES, 5-4
MOOSIC, PA --- Shawn Stone hit a walkoff single to right field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the King's College baseball team a 5-4 victory over cross-town rival Wilkes University on Saturday afternoon at PNC Field in Moosic.
The Monarchs improve their overall record to 14-13 with a 7-6 mark in conference play. The Colonels fall to 9-18 overall and 3-10 in conference games.
King's and Wilkes played the first game of the three-game series at PNC Field in Moosic as part of the Bill Howerton Strike Out Cancer event. The Monarchs were finally able to play a game at the home of the 2016 Triple-A National Champions and the host of the 2017 Triple-A National Championship game after their scheduled game at the Stadium against Scranton got postponed on Wednesday due to bad weather.
The Monarchs made the most out of their special opportunity by getting on the board first in the third inning. Tom Gibbons legged out an infield single to short with one out and then stole second. Sean McKee drove him in two batters later with a two-out triple to the gap in right center. The Colonels were able to force a ground out to third to end the inning before McKee could be knocked in.
King's added two more runs in the fourth inning to increase their lead to 3-0. Chris Rebar drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a single to left center by Kyle Lupas, and then Stone loaded the bases with a four pitch walk. Bruce Breithaupt knocked in a run with a single to left before the Wilkes pitcher was able to retire the next two hitters for the first two outs of the inning. Brad Wilkins then hit a single up the middle that hit off the pitcher's leg to knock in the second run of the inning and gave the Monarchs a 3-0 lead.
The Colonels responded with three runs on two hits and an error in the fifth to tie the game up. After a strikeout to begin the inning, Brady Wing walked, Joe Champi singled down the leftfield line, and the Wing scored on a fielding error at second base. Joshua Slocum followed with a two RBI single to right center to even the score.
Wilkes took the lead in the seventh on a Champi double to deep right center and then a single up the middle by Tyler Walther. The Monarchs responded in the bottom half of the inning as McKee, Christian Pack, and Rebar all drew walks to start the inning. Lupas knocked in McKee with a ground out to second to even the score at 4-4. Unfortunately the Monarchs were unable to drive in any more runs in the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth inning with the score still tied, McKee knocked the first pitch he saw through the right side for a leadoff single. Pack then moved him up to second with a sacrifice bunt. Rebar was then intentionally walked, his third walk of the game. Lupas then drove a ball into left field that just fell in under the glove of a diving Colonel defender. Unfortunately, the confusion on whether the ball was caught or not kept McKee at second base not wanting to get doubled off and he was not able to make it to third before Wilkes threw him out. Stone made the play a non-factor three pitches later when he drove a 0-2 pitch to right field knocking in Rebar from second base with the game-winning run.
Sean McKee and Kyle Lupas each had two hits, an RBI and scored a run for King's. Chris Rebar went 1-for-2 with three walks and two runs scored, including the game-winning run. Shawn Stone, Bruce Breithaupt, and Brad Wilkins had a hit and knocked in a run each while Tom Gibbons recorded a hit. On the mound Dan Hartson received a no-decision pitching 5.0 innings while allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits with six walks and two strikeouts. Chris Lupole picked up the win in relief throwing 4.0 innings and allowing one run on two hits, a walk, and two stikeouts.
The Colonels were led by Joshua Slocum's 3-for-4 day at the plate with two RBI. Tyler Walther had a two RBI hit and scored a run while Joe Champi got two hits and scored twice. Chris Nixon pitched the first six innings allowing three runs on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Matt Kaster recorded the loss in relief pitching the final 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with four walks, and four strikeouts.
King's and Wilkes will be back at it tomorrow with the final two games of the three-game set scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start at Artillery Park in Kingston.