MARCH 26, 2018
MONARCH BASEBALL TALLY 23 HITS IN 21-1 VICTORY
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College baseball team scored 21 runs on 23 hits in a 21-1 non-conference victory over Clarks Summit University at Lipo Field on Monday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre.
The Monarchs improve to 7-8 overall while the Defenders fall to 0-12.
King's jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning when the whole lineup came up to bat. Dan Hartson led off with a four-pitch walk, stole second and moved over to third on a throwing error. Christian Pack knocked him in when he was able to leg out a slow grounder to short. Pack then stole second with one out and advanced to third on a throwing error. Kyle Lupas drove him in with a single up the middle. The Monarchs loaded the bases with a Shawn Stone single and a Sean Padden walk. Bruce Breithaupt gave the Monarch a 3-0 lead with an infield single that the second baseman was able to stop from going into the outfield with two outs. The Monarchs cleared the bases on a Brad Wilkins fly ball to center that was dropped by the centerfielder.
The Monarchs scored twice in the second inning on a Rebar single to center, a Lupas double down the leftfield line, back-to-back walks to Stone and Matthew Mellinger and a fielder's choice by Padden.
Clarks Summit scored their lone run of the game in the third inning. Connor Kopnik worked a leadoff walk, stole second, and then scored when Kegan Laman hit a shot towards first that Mellinger dove for but was unable to come up with. The ball was then picked up by Hartson at second who tried to throw Laman out at first but his throw went wide of the bag allowing the run to score. King's got out of the inning with two strikeouts and a fly out to center.
The Monarchs responded in the bottom of the inning when Wilkins led off with a single to center and then Hartson doubled to left center. Pack knocked in Wilkins with an infield single to short and then Rebar gave the Monarchs a 12-1 lead with his second home run of the year on a bomb over the right-field fence.
The Monarchs tacked on five more runs in the sixth on six hits. Mellinger led off with a double to right center and then moved to third on a Padden single through the left side. Breithaupt knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to left field. Sean McKee knocked in a run with a double down the line in left. Chris Neuhaus came into run for McKee and scored when Mike Armstrong legged out a single to third base but the late throw skipped past the first baseman. Rebar and Lupas hit back-to-back doubles for the Monarchs final two runs of the inning.
In the eighth Jonathan Hoyt led off with a walk, Paul Helman singled to right, and Kyle Friebolin reached on an error to load the bases. Ryan Harold knocked in two runs with a single to right center before Liam Hughes singled up the middle to reload the bases. Jacob Adamski and Justin Yannece knocked in King's final two runs.
On the mound, the Monarchs had a predetermined all-staff day with no pitcher throwing more than 40 pitches. Nick Deno started and got the win while striking out five batters in the first two innings. Matt Hassick allowed one run on one hit and a walk with two strikeouts in the third while Jacob Lupas allowed just two hits in two innings. Cooper Johnson struck out the side in the sixth and added two more strikeouts in a 1-2-3 seventh. Anthony Peacock pitched the eighth and Kyle Marinelli struck two out in the ninth. King's had 14 total strikeouts on the day and allowed just seven hits.
Chris Rebar came a triple shy of the cycle with three hits in four at-bats. He had a double, a home run, four runs batted in, and scored twice. Kyle Lupas also had three hits while knocking in three and scoring twice. Bruce Breithaupt recorded two hits, knocked in two, and scored a run while Christian Pack had two hits, two runs scored, and two RBI. 13 different Monarchs had one hit. All nine of King's starters recorded at least one hit and eight of the nine scored at least one run.
The Monarchs will be back in action on Wednesday when they return to conference play where they will host defending champion Misericordia University at Lipo Field in the first game of a three-game set between the local rivals. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.