WILKES-BARRE, PA (March 26, 2019) - Junior Kyle Friebolin had a career day at the plate to lead the King's College baseball team to an important 8-3 victory over Manhattanville College on Tuesday afternoon from Lipo Field in Wilkes-Barre.

The Monarchs rebounded nicely from Sunday's tough losses to the Valiants with an important Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) victory in the series finale. KC (6-9, 3-3 MAC Freedom) got things rolling with two runs in the first inning. Matt Dobeck led off with a slow roller down the first base line for a single. After stealing second, Dan Hartson singled to right and moved up to second as the Dobeck beat the throw to third after holding up to make sure the ball dropped in front of the right fielder. Matt Mellinger drove in Dobeck with a groundout to short before Friebolin hit a single up the middle to score Hartson from second.

Manhattanville (6-7, 3-2 MAC Freedom) responded with all three of their runs in the second inning to take the lead. Jack Matero led off with a walk and then Luke Shaffer knocked him in with a double to center. Hathaway Roper continued to be a Monarch killer with a single to the gap in left center to tie the game before Joseph Silvestri hit a two-out double down the line in right to score Roper.

Cooper Johnson responded by retiring nine straight Valiants before a Matt Lynch walk and a Tyler Viscusi double in the fifth. Johnson got a nice grab by Mellinger at first to end the inning and his day. King's tied the game in the fourth as Sean McKee reached second on a throwing error by the Valiant third baseman. After Shane Beyer moved him to third, Andrew Steidle came up with a big two-out single down the third base line that the MC third baseman was able to get a glove on to keep in the infield to score McKee with the tying run.

The Monarch offense gave Johnson a little more run support in the fifth as Hartson and Mellinger hit back-to-back singles. They advanced to second and third on a wild pitch before Friebolin knocked a 2-1 pitch down the right field line for an RBI double. Mellinger was unable to score on the play as he had to hold at second to see if the catch was made. Tyler Reynolds knocked him in the next batter on a single to short where he was able to beat a low throw. Two batters later Beyer hit a single to the hole at short to load the bases before Andrew Steidle drew a walk to make it 6-3.

Jacob Lupas relieved Johnson in the sixth and struck out the side on 13 pitches. In the bottom of the inning, Hartson hit a one-out single to right and then two batters later Friebolin came up with another big knock as he drilled a 0-1 pitch down the left field line and over the fence for his first career home run. Lupas shut the Valiants down in order in the seventh and got one out in the eighth before M'Ville was able to get their first hit off the sophomore. Dobeck made a nice diving grab in left for the second out of the inning and prevent a hit. After Lupas hit Matero on a 3-2 pitch he was able to get a slow roller out in front of the plate that Beyer calmly picked up and threw to first for the final out of the inning.

The Valiants put up a fight in the ninth loading the bases with one out on two singles, an infield fly, and a hit-by-pitch. The Monarchs brought in Dobeck to relieve Lupas and he delivered as Matt Lynch lined out to short and then the Monarchs doubled off the runner at third to end the game.

Friebolin went 3-for-5 at the plate with a career high four runs batted in while scoring two runs. Hartson also had a great day at the plate going 4-for-5 while scoring three runs. Steidle had two hits in three at-bats out of the nine-hole and knocked in a pair of runs. The Monarchs had 13 hits with seven of the nine starters recording at least one hit.

On the mound, Johnson got his second victory of the year with five strong innings where he had five strikeouts. Lupas gave up just three hits and struck out four in 3.1 innings of work. Matt Dobeck recorded his first save of the year.

King's will be back on the diamond tomorrow afternoon with a non-conference game at Marywood University in Scranton. First pitch is scheduled for 4 pm from Pacers Field.