SWEENEY HOMERS THREE TIMES AS MONARCH BASEBALL POSTS 13-3 WIN OVER MANHATTANVILLE
WILKES-BARRE -- Sophomore Chris Sweeney (left) went 5-for-5 including three home runs and two doubles as King's College posted a 13-3 Freedom victory over visiting Manhattanville College Monday afternoon at Lipo Field. The win marked the seventh straight for a surging Monarchs squad looking for a spot in the postseason tournament next week.
With the win King's improves to 14-15-1 overall and 9-7-1 in league play. Manhattanville drops to 14-17 overall and 6-12 in Freedom games.
Manhattanville jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after their first at-bats thanks to two hits including an RBI single from Danny Fiorito.
King's responded in the bottom of the inning with a lead-off bunt single from Joey Troxell. Two batters later, Sweeney connected on the first pitch he saw belting his single season school record eighth home run over the left field fence tying the game at 2-2. Sweeney passed former Monarchs Ron Flora and Mike Venarchick who posted seven home runs each in 1992 and 2006 respectively.
In the bottom of the third, King's took their first lead at 3-2 as the former Crestwood star blasted his second home run of the game to deep left centerfield. In the process, the sophomore leftfielder tied the school's career home run mark posting 14 homers in his first two seasons as a Monarch tying Pat Burke's 14 career long balls set back in 1998.
King's added anonther run in the fourth as Brenton Eades led off the frame with an infield single. Following a Tim Marchetti sacrifice bunt moving Eades to second, Anthony Re smacked an RBI single to left field scoring Eades giving the Monarchs a 4-2 edge.
The Monarchs posted three more insurance runs in the fifth. Lemoncelli doubled to left centerfield to lead off the inning. Sweeney continued his torrent bat doubling to the same spot plating Lemoncelli putting King's up 5-2 in the process. Three more singles from Eades, Marchetti and Matt Pritchard up the King's advantage to 7-2.
In the bottom half of the sixth more school history would be made. If tying the school record for career home runs wasnt enough, Sweeney belted his third home run of the contest deep over the left field fence solidifying himself as the school's home run king with 15 career long shots. The two-run homer put the Monarchs up 9-2.
After the Valiants manufactuered a run in the seventh cutting the lead to 9-3, King's added four more runs in the eighth as Lemoncelli, Sweeney, and Fignar connected on three straight doubles followed by a two-run pinch-hit double from Chris DeCarlo.
Sweeney enjoyed one of the finest afternoon's in school history going 5-for-5 with six RBI. Fignar went 3-for-5 with two singles and a two-run double. Pritchard also finished 3-for-5 with three singles. Joey Troxell, Lemoncelli, and Eades each posted two hits in the contest as the Monarchs posted a season-high 21 hits on the afternoon.
Starter Levi Tate was excellent on the hill for King's going six innings allowing two runs on eight hits striking out two batters to record the win. Troxel and Peter Fanning provided the relief combining for three innings allowing one run.
King's will now turn their attention to FDU-Florham tomorrow when they travel to Flemington, N.J. to complete their season series with a single nine-inning contest against the Devils at 7:00 p.m. at Diamond Nation.
