APRIL 18, 2010
KING'S BASEBALL SQUAD POSTS 8-0 WIN OVER WILKES, WINS SEASON SERIES 2-1
KINGSTON -- The visiting King's College baseball team took another step towards the Freedom Conference playoffs as the Monarchs posted an 8-0 victory over cross-town rival Wilkes University in the final game of a three-game weekend series Sunday at Artillery Park.
The teams split a doubleheader Saturday at King's and the Sunday victory allows the Monarchs to take the season series between the teams 2-1. With six Freedom Conference games left in the regular-season, King's improved to 16-10 overall and 10-5 in league games while Wilkes slipped to 10-15 and 3-12 in conference matchups.
The Monarchs are currently in third-place in the Freedom Conference, a game ahead of Manhattanville (14-15, 9-6) while trailing DeSales (13-2) and FDU-Florham (10-3) in th eleague standings.
King's took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Joey Troxell, Rob Fravel, and Chris Sweeney all walked to load the bases. Troxell would score from third on an infield ground out.
The Monarchs added another run in the second inning when Troxell doubled, followed by walks to Sweeney and Brian Mikus to load the bases. Jeremy Bonser was then hit by a pitch, bringing home Troxell from third.
King's took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning when Matt Unger tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Sean Rooney.
The Monarchs tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning when Rooney singled and scored on a double by Pat Harsch. Rob Lemoncelli would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Harsch to third base, but a Wilkes throwing error allowed the runner to score on the play as the King's lead grew to 5-0.
The Monarchs put the game away in the ninth inning when Bonser singled and Rooney drew a walk. Two batters later Lemoncelli smacked a three-run home run over the left field fence to bring the score to 8-0.
Defensively, the Monarchs used a solid pitching performance from Eric Matula (4-1), who tossed a four hitter and allowed only two hits through the first seven innings. The senior left-hander walked just two batters in nine complete innings while striking out six hitters.
Harsch led King's by going 2-for-5 and scored two runs. Lemoncelli was 1-for-5 with one run and three RBI. Rooney was 1-for-1 with two runs and a RBI. Fravel, Sweeney, Unger, and Bonser added one hit each.
Matt Ruch led Wilkes by going 2-for-3. Colonel starter Tom Buckler was the losing pitcher, allowing three runs on four its with seven walks and five strikeouts in seven innings of work. Al Clocker finished up and yielded five runs on four hits.
King's will next travel to Bethlehem on Tuesday for a 4:00 p.m. matchup against Moravian College.
