FEBRUARY 21, 2009
KING'S BASEBALL FALLS TO MT. ALOYSIUS, 3-2
WINCHESTER, VA – Mt. Aloysius College broke open a scoreless game with a three-run fifth inning and held off a King's College rally in the eighth inning as the Monarch baseball squad dropped a 3-2 verdict Saturday in a neutral site contest in Winchester, Va.
With the score tied 0-0 in the top half of the fifth inning, Kyle Rose singled and Eli Traup was hit by a pitch to give Mt. Aloyisus runners at first and third with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Mike Holcomb walked to load the bases. Monarch starting pitcher Eric Matula would then throw a wild pitch to score Rose from third and advance the Traup and Holcomb to third and second. Bryan Nolan then delivered a two-run double to give Mt. Aloyisus a 3-0 lead.
King's remained scoreless until the eighth inning when Pat Harsch stroked a one-out double and Brian Mikus singled. Rob Fravel then followed with a RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1. One out later, Gracjan Kraszewski stroked a single to left field to plate Mikus, bringing the Monarchs to within 3-2. King's, however, would leave Fravel and Kraszewski stranded and remained behind heading into the final inning.
In the ninth, Mountaineer relief pitcher Chad Mattis sat the Monarchs down in order to earn the save.
King's outhit Mt. Aloyisus 8-to-5 but stranded seven runners. Harsh and Rooney led the way with two hits each for King's. Matula took the loss, allowing three earned runs in four and two-thirds innings. Dan Jenkins pitched the final four and one-third innings of hitless relief, striking out six batters.
King's (1-2) will be idle until its Spring Break trip to Orlando, Fla. when the Monarchs face Widener University in the Disney Sports Complex.
