APRIL 15, 2011
KING'S BASEBALL RALLIES PAST DESALES, 10-7
CENTER VALLEY -- The King's College baseball team overcame a 5-0 deficit after three innings as the Monarchs posted a 10-7 comeback win over host DeSales University in an important Freedom Conference matchup Friday in Center Valley.
With the win, King's improved to 9-15-1 overall and 4-7-1 in Freedom Conference games. DeSales, meanwhile, slipped to 13-10 overall and 8-3 in league contests.
The Monarchs fell behind by a stout 5-0 margin after the first inning of play. But rather than fold, King's eventually battled back to score its first run of the game in the fourth inning when Chris Sweeney reached base on a fielding error and moved to second on a base hit from Mike Fignar. Rich Acierno then came through with a RBI single to cut the DeSales lead to 5-1.
King's got right back in the game in the fifth inning when Matt Pritchard stroked a leadoff single and moved to third on a double rto left-center by Anthony Re. Joey Troxell then poke a ground ball to first base that was misplayed by DeSales, resulting in Pritchard scoring from third and Re advancing to third. Rob Lemoncelli then delivered a run-scoring single before Sweeney reached on another DeSales error to score Troxell, trimming the Bulldog lead to 5-4. Fignar followed up with a run-scoring single, bringing home Lemoncelli from second to tie the game at 5-5.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Monarchs broke open the game with five runs in the seventh. Lemoncelli led off with a double while Sweeney singled. After an infield pop out, Rich Acierno smacked a RBI double to give the Monarchs a 6-5 lead. After a walk to Bobby Buttafogo to give King's runners at first and second, Pritchard followed with a RBI single. Re then added a two-run single of his own as the Monarch lead grew to 9-5. Troxell finished out the inning with a RBI single, bringing Pritchard home from third base as the Monarchs held a 10-5 lead.
DeSales, however, responded right away with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to cut the King's advantage to 10-7. Monarch relief pitcher Joe Troxell would enter the game with bases-loaded and two outs and promptly registered an inning-ending strikeout to end the Bulldog rally.
Both teams failed to score in the eighth and after the Monarchs were unable to score again in the top of the ninth, DeSales had one more at-bat to contend with.
Troxell, however, was up to the task. After striking our two-of-three batters in the eighth, the Monarchs senior registered the first two outs in the ninth on a fly ball to center and another strikeout. After DeSales managed a two-out single, Troxell tallied the final out of the game on a grounder to second base as King's walked away with a critical conference win.
Acierno was 3-for-4 with two RBI while Re was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Fugnar finished 3-for-5with a RBI while Lemoncelli finished 2-for-5 with two runs and a RBI. Pritchard contributed with a 2-for-5 effort that included two runs and a RBI.
The story for the Monarchs was outstanding relief pitching. After starter Joe Dorbad was removed after yielding five first-inning runs, Brenton Eades came on to pitch a strong five and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs on just three hits while striking out four batters to pick up the win. Troxell was outstanding in earning the save, going two and one-third innings and allowing one hot with four strikeouts.
King's and DeSales will continue their series Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader at the Betzler Athletic Complex.
