WILKES-BARRE, PA (March 20, 2019) – Senior Mike Armstrong had the best game of his career going 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored while Cooper Johnson threw 7.2 great innings to lead the King's College baseball team to an 8-4 victory over visiting Clarks Summit University on Wednesday afternoon from Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre.

The Monarchs (5-7) rallied from an early 4-1 deficit while scoring at least one run in all but two innings. CSU (0-7) scored all four of their runs in the second inning. The Monarchs chipped away at the lead scoring a run in the second, third, and fifth inning to tie the game. They then pulled away with three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Matt Dobeck scored the first run of the game when he stole second and then raced home as the throw from the Defender catcher sailed into center field. Clarks Summit responded with four runs on four hits in the top of the second to take a 4-1 lead. Dyllan Weaver hit a one-out single to right to score two runs before Domingo Rodriguez knocked in another run two batters later with a single to left. With three runs already in and runners on first and second with one out, King's brought in Cooper Johnson to try and shut down the Defender bats. That move worked to perfection as Johnson was able to get out of the inning with just one more run scored on two balks. In fact, Johnson shut down the Defenders the rest of the games allowing four hits and one walk in a career high 7.2 innings while equaling his career high in strikeouts with five.

Meanwhile, the Monarch bats went to work to chip away at the lead. Sean McKee hit a double down the left field line in the bottom half of the inning before Armstrong drove him home two batters later with an infield single to third. The next inning Matt Mellinger hit a two-out single to left before Kyle Friebolin knocked him in with a double to center. The Monarchs tied the game up in the fifth as Friebolin knocked in Mellinger again with a two-out single to center.

King's retook the lead in the sixth as senior Tyler Reynolds hit a bomb over the fence in left to lead off the inning. Armstrong singled to left for his third hit of the game and Christian Pack moved him over to third on a single two batters later. Mellinger came up with a big two-out double to center to score Armstrong and Pack giving King's a 7-4 lead. In the seventh, McKee singled up the middle with one out, stole second and then Armstrong knocked him in with a single to left after Reynolds was intentionally walked.

Mellinger finished with three hits, two RBI, and two runs scored while Friebolin knocked in two runs on two hits. McKee had two hits and two runs scored while Pack had two hits and a run scored. King's finished the game with 14 hits, their second-most of the season, which includes three doubles and a home run.

The Monarch will be right back in action tomorrow for their third game in three days when they host Marywood University at 4 pm.