APRIL 10, 2018
MONARCH BASEBALL DEFEATS CLARKS SUMMIT 10-2
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- Senior Kyle Lupas and his younger brother Jacob Lupas celebrated National Sibling Day by leading the King's College baseball team to a 10-2 victory over Clarks Summit University at Lipo Field on Tuesday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre. Kyle went 4-for-5 with two RBI at the plate while younger brother Jacob pitched seven strong innings to pick up his first career victory in his first career start.
The Monarchs improved to 9-13 while the Defenders fell to 0-15.
Jacob Lupas retired the first 10 batters he faced before the Defenders recorded their first hit with one out in the fourth on a slow infield single up the middle. Lupas needed just four pitches in the first inning and eight in the second to retire the Defenders. Kyle Lupas gave his brother some run support in the bottom of the first when he knocked in Matt Mellinger with a double to the gap in left-center with two outs. Mellinger had hit a ball to almost the same spot two batters earlier to get on base.
In the third inning, Dan Hartson doubled down the leftfield line and then advanced to third on a fielding error off the bat of Mellinger. Hartson then scored to give King's a 2-0 lead when Mellinger was thrown out trying to steal second.
Sean Padden led off the fourth with a four-pitch walk, moved up to second on a wild pitch, and then Kyle Friebolin put runners on the corners with a single through the left side. Two batters later Mike Armstrong crushed the first pitch he saw over the leftfield fence for his first career home run to give the Monarchs a 5-0 lead.
The Monarchs added another run in the fifth when Lupas recorded his second RBI of the game with a single up the middle to score Mellinger from third. In the sixth inning Armstrong led off with a walk and Hartson singled to right with one out to put runners at first and second. Mellinger knocked in Armstrong with his second double of the game and then Chris Rebar singled up the middle to give King's a 9-0 lead. Kyle Lupas and Padden hit back-to-back singles through the left side to make it 10-0.
The Defenders got on the board in the seventh when Sam Vincent led off with a pinch-hit double to left, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a single to right off the bat of Ryan Clark. Clarks Summit put more pressure on Lupas with a single down the left field line but he was able to get out of the inning with no more damage.
Anthony Peacock relieved Lupas in the eight and did not get off to a good start as the first three hitters recorded singles to load the bases. The Defenders scored on a wild pitch before Peacock settled down and struck out the next two batters looking and got a liner to short to get out of the inning. He then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the game.
Kyle Lupas led the Monarchs with four hits in five at-bats including one double while knocking in two runs. Matt Mellinger had two doubles, scored three times, and knocked in one. Dan Hartson and Sean Padden also had two hits each for King's. Mike Armstrong scored twice and knocked in three on the first home run of his career.
Jacob Lupas was fantastic on the mound in his first career start. In seven innings of work, he allowed one run on seven hits and struck out four. Anthony Peacock allowed one run on three hits with three strikeouts in the final two innings of work.
The Defenders were led by Kegan Laman, Ryan Clark, and Dustin Ward who each had two hits. Clarks knocked in a run and Laman and Sam Vincent scored a run each. Connor Kopnik picked up the loss on the mound in 5.1 innings. He allowed nine runs, seven earned on 10 hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
King's will be back in action tomorrow when they travel to Williamsport to face Penn College at historic Bowman Field with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m.