WILKES-BARRE, PA (March 7, 2019) – The King's College baseball team wrap up their spring break trip to Florida with four games against three different teams on Friday and Saturday as part of the Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational. The Monarchs will play a twin bill against Wentworth on Friday before finishing up the trip with a pair of games against Beloit and Keene State on Saturday.
 
Event Details
Opponent: vs Wentworth Institute of Technology (2-4, 0-0 Commonwealth Coast)
Date: Friday March 8, 2019
Time: 1:00 p.m. / 3:30 p.m.
Location: Winter Haven, FL – Chain O'Lakes Complex Stadium (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats)
 
Opponent: vs Beloit College (0-0, 0-0 Midwest)
Date: Saturday March 10, 2019
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: Auburndale, FL – Lake Myrtle Sports Park Field 5 (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats)
 
Opponent: vs Keene State College (0-0, 0-0 Little East)
Date: Saturday March 10, 2019
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Auburndale, FL – Lake Myrtle Sports Park Field 5 (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats)
 
Last Time Out: King's dropped a pair of games to Concordia College on Monday morning by scores of 19-2 and 7-4. The Cobbers poured it on late with 16 runs in the final two innings including a 12-run seventh to win the opener. The Monarchs took the early lead in the nightcap but a three-run fourth and a run in the fifth and sixth inning allowed Concordia to sweep the doubleheader.
 
The Book On The Monarchs (0-4, 0-0 MAC Freedom):

• Senior captain Christian Pack had seven hits in four games for a .438 batting average and is just two hits away from becoming the ninth student-athlete in program history to reach 150 career hits.
• Chris Burke leads the team in batting average with five hits in 10 at-bats. The sophomore transfer crushed an opposite field home run on Sunday and has two doubles for a 1.000 slugging percentage.
• Matt Dobeck has been very good in the leadoff spot recording a .417 batting average and a .563 on-base percentage with five hits, three walks, and a hit-by-pitch.
• Matt Mellinger is hitting the ball very well to begin the season with a .308 average and even his outs have been hit hard, just right at defenders. The sophomore also had a quality outing on the mound on Monday allowing two runs in three innings against the Cobbers.
• King's is batting just .304 as a team through the first four games but when they are getting hits, they are finding gaps. 15 of their 34 hits have gone for extra bases with 13 doubles, a triple, and a home run.
• The Monarchs have used 13 different pitchers this year with Jacob Lupas and Landon La Bar recording the most outs with 3.2 innings each.

The Book On The Leopards 2-4, 0-0 CCC):

• The Leopards have gone 2-4 this week in Florida with both wins coming against PSUAC member Penn State Fayette on Monday. Wentworth lost a pair of one-run games to Hilbert and WPI in their other four contests.
• King's and WIT has a recent history of playing great games in Florida last meeting in 2017. The Leopards won both of those meetings by scores of 8-3 and 9-5 in eight innings. In both games Wentworth scored six runs in their last at-bats to win. In 2016 KC walked off with a 10-inning victory in game one before their late game rally fell just short in a 8-6 loss in game two.
• Jake Smith leads the team with a .474 batting average and has four doubles, a triple, and eight RBI while scoring six runs.
• Matt Masciadrelli is hitting .467 in his rookie season with seven runs scored and four walks. Ross Golebiewski is also hitting above .400 at .450 with nine hits in 20 at-bats with a team-leading nine RBI.
• WIT is hitting .325 as a team and have stolen 10 bases in 12 attempts. Aidan French and Owen Swanson have swiped three bases each.
• On the mound Leo Coehlo threw a complete game two-hitter against the Lions with nine strikeouts. Ryan Obin had 10 strikeouts in six innings in a losing effort against Hilbert in the season-opener.

The Book On The Buccaneers (0-0, 0-0 Midwest):

• Beloit is playing their first game of the year on Saturday morning against the Monarchs. The Buccaneers are looking to build upon their 20-18 2018 campaign where they went 6-3 in Florida including a great win over Wheaton (MA).
• The Wisconsin school is looking for another strong start to their season after finishing 2018 with five consecutive losses including four to Lawrence University which knocked them out of postseason contention.
• The Bucs hit .283 last year as a team and had five hitters above .300. Their top three hitters are back in 2019.
• Jalen Davis led the team with a .389 batting average and put up some power numbers of six doubles, four triples, and three home runs while knocking in 32 and scoring 44 runs.
• Ethan Conley hit .338 with 10 doubles, two triples, and a home run while knocking in 27 and scoring 32 runs. Nick Schmidt hit .320 with five doubles and two triples while knocking in 17 and scoring 28 runs.
• The Bucs played a lot of close games last year as they recorded six saves and their opponents had seven. As a team Beloit recorded a 4.83 ERA. They have their top three in number of starts back in David Harrison, Danny Belling, and Mike Weeden. Harrison was 3-4 in seven starts with a 4.60 ERA, Belling was 3-3 in nine starts with a 4.75 ERA, and Weeden was 1-2 in eight starts with a 5.57 ERA.

The Book On The Owls (0-0, 0-0 Little East):

• Keene State is a tradition New England power that will open their season on Friday afternoon with a pair of games against Coe. The Owls were scheduled to play in the NYC metro area last weekend but games against Farmingdale State and William Paterson were cancelled due to weather.
• The New Hampshire college plays in the Little East Conference which is considered one of the best conferences in the Northeast. The Owls have won three LEC regular season titles and one LEC Tournament Championship while qualifying for the NCAA tournament four times since 2007.
• KSC finished 15-19 overall a year ago and were 5-9 in the LEC and haven't finished over .500 since going 32-15 in 2012. The Owls traditionally play a strong non-conference schedule.
• The Owls hit .262 as a team a year ago with 62 doubles, seven triples, and 12 home runs
• Senior Mac Struthers is the top returning hitting after recording a .310 average in 30 games last year with five doubles, two home runs, 21 RBI, and 27 runs scored.
• On the mound KSC has senior Connor Johnson back after a great 2018 campaign where he had a 2-0 record out of the bullpen in 12 appearances with a 2.81 ERA in 16 innings. Brandon Heath and Isaac Keehn are the top two starters back. Heath went 4-1 in four starts and 11 appearances with a 3.80 ERA while Keehn was 1-3 in seven starts with a 3.93 ERA.

Up Next: King's will return north to Pennsylvania where they are scheduled to begin conference play next weekend against DeSales. The Monarchs are scheduled to travel down to Center Valley for a single nine inning game on Friday the 15th before hosting the Bulldogs on Saturday for two seven inning games.