KISSIMMEE, FL (March 4, 2019) – The past couple days have not been kind to the King's College baseball team following two losses against Concordia College of Minnesota on Monday morning from the Osecola Heritage Park in Kissimmee by scores of 19-2 and 7-4.

The Monarchs spent nearly a full day on a bus traveling down to Florida from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon. They then had four games in a span of 24 hours to begin the season. After finishing their doubleheader against Gwynedd Mercy at 9 pm on Sunday evening, King's was right back on the field just 12 hours later to take on the Cobbers of Concordia.

Matt Mellinger made his collegiate pitching debut in the first game and pitched well over three innings of work. The sophomore gave up two runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts before being relieved by Andrew Steidle. The Cobbers scored the first run of the game in the second inning on a one out triple to deep center. Brett Erickson tried to stretch the play into an inside the park home run, but Christian Pack had a great relay throw from Dan Hartson in center to gun down Erickson at the plate.

The next inning Concordia had a leadoff single and advanced the runner to third with one out before he was driven in by an infield single to short as Alec Sames just beat the throw on a softly hit ball. The Cobbers loaded the bases before Mellinger got out of the jam with an easy grounder to third. In the fourth inning Concordia added another run on a two-out triple by Beau Wilmer.

The Monarchs struggled to get any hits against Cole Christensen as the senior threw five great innings allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out five. Tyler Reynolds nearly hit his first home run of the year with a bomb in the fifth inning down the line in left but his double hit high off the very high wall in left. The Cobbers broke the game wide open with a four-run sixth inning and then a 12-run seventh. King's scored both of their runs in the sixth.

Matt Dobeck led off the sixth with a single into the hole at short and two batters later Dan Hartson doubled down the line in left to put runners at second and third. Mellinger then ripped a single through the left side to score both runs. The Monarchs offense loaded the bases with a single to left by Chris Burke and Seth Laky was hit by the first pitch of his at-bat. Concordia was able to get a strikeout to get out of the inning with no more damage done.
The Monarchs finished the game with eight hits as Burke led the team with two. Dobeck walked twice, had a hit, and scored a run in the leadoff position.

Concordia had 22 hits in the game while drawing 10 walks. They had two doubles and three triples with four of their five extra-base hits scoring a run.

King's came out strong in the second game as Pack tripled to deep center scoring Dobeck on the second play of the game. Three batters later Mellinger knocked in Pack to give KC a 2-0 lead with a one-hopper to the fence in center. Concordia took advantage of a two-out error in the bottom half of the inning to manufacture a run and then tied the game in the second with a triple to right center and then a two-out single to right.

The Cobbers looked like they would take the lead in the third after loading the bases with one out. However, Lupas forced a fly ball to right field and then the Monarchs doubled off the runner at second before the runner from third crossed the plate. King's used the momentum of the big play to retake the lead in the fourth as Burke doubled to left, Kyle Friebolin hit a pinch-hit single to third, and then Reynolds hit a sac fly to right to score Burke. Concordia responded with three runs on three hits in the bottom half of the inning to take their first lead of the game at 5-3. After tying the game at 3 on two singles and a walk, another walk loaded the bases with two outs. The Cobbers took the lead on a double to left before King's got a strikeout to end the inning. Concordia added an insurance run in the fifth.

Mellinger led off the sixth with a single up the middle and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. The sophomore scored two batters later when Friebolin singled through the left side to cut the deficit down to 6-4. However, the Cobbers added another insurance run in the bottom half to set the final score at 7-4.

Four different Monarchs had two hits in the game and the team had nine hits total. Pack and Mellinger had two hits while scoring a run and knocking in a run each while Friebolin and Burke added two hits apiece. Pack is now just two hits away from 150 in his career. Jacob Lupas went 3.2 innings on the mound allowing five runs on nine hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Friebolin pitched the final 2.1 innings and was impressive in his collegiate pitching debut as the junior allowed two runs on five hits with one strikeout.

The Monarchs will get some much needed rest over the next couple days while still seeing time on the field with a couple of JV games before taking on Wentworth on Friday afternoon from the Chain O'Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven for a twin bill beginning at 1 p.m.