WILKES-BARRE, PA (April 25, 2019) – The King's College baseball team will close out conference play with a three-game set against Eastern University this weekend. The Monarchs will look to improve their seed in next weekend's Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Tournament.
 
Event Details: (Date/Times Subject to Change Based on Weather this Weekend) 
Opponent: vs Eastern University (13-22, 6-12 MAC Freedom)
Date: Friday April 26, 2019
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Wilkes-Barre, PA – Lipo Field (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Opponent: at Eastern University (13-22, 6-12 MAC Freedom)
Date: Saturday April 27, 2019
Time: 12:00 p.m. / 2:30 p.m.
Location: St. Davids, PA – The Yard (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Last Time Out: The Monarchs got contributions from nearly the whole lineup in a 6-2 victory over Marywood on Tuesday. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit with Christian Pack leading the way with two hits and two RBI. Kyle Friebolin threw four great innings to pick up his fourth win on the mound and knocked in a pair of runs. Alex Bruneio pitched two quick innings and Jacob Lupas earned his third three-inning save of the year on the hill. The Eagles went on the road to defeat Haverford College 6-4 in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon.
 
The Book On The Monarchs (15-16, 10-8 MAC Freedom):

• King's enters the final weekend of the regular season having already clinched a spot in next weekend's MAC Freedom Tournament. This is the fourth consecutive year the Monarchs have qualified for the postseason where they will look to improve on their third-place finish last year. The Monarchs are currently fourth in the conference standings but could move up to third with a sweep of the Eagles and a sweep in the DeSales-Manhattanville series this weekend. The fourth team in next weekend's Championship, Misericordia, can clinch the top seed with a sweep of Delaware Valley this weekend.
• KC is 11-2 at Lipo Field this year including an 8-2 mark in conference action. The Monarchs are hitting .355 as a team on their home field and have outscored teams 95-43 in 13 games. They have also pitched extremely well at home recording a 2.91 staff ERA with three complete games and one shutout in 102 innings.
• The Monarchs are second in the conference and 14th in the nation with a .336 team batting average while hitting 66 doubles, four triples, and 11 home runs. The production starts at the top of the lineup as Christian Pack leads the team with a .400 average batting second while Dan Hartson is second at .382 right behind him. Hartson was named the MAC Freedom Pitcher of the Week but also had a great week with his bat against Misericordia last week. The right fielder is hitting .469 at Lipo Field and .435 in MAC Freedom play. On the mound he is 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA and is coming off a dominating performance against the Cougars last Thursday. He is expected to see some innings this weekend as the probable starter for one of the games on Saturday.
• Matt Dobeck and Matt Mellinger sandwich the two seniors for the Monarchs and the two sophomores are third and fourth on the team in average. Dobeck is hitting .350 in the leadoff spot and has scored a team-high 34 runs with 13 stolen bases while Mellinger is hitting .345 with a team-leading 33 RBI.
• The lineup doesn't get any easier for opposing pitchers as Kyle Friebolin has a .295 average with 14 RBI and 12 runs scored. Tyler Reynolds has come on strong the past couple of weeks hitting six home runs while raising his average to .274. The second baseman has 15 RBI and 14 runs scored. Noah Adams and Paul Helman have given KC great innings between the plate in a position where the Monarchs have struggled with injuries this year. Helman is batting .375 while Adams is hitting .327.
• Senior Mike Armstrong has come on strong in his final season as the team's everyday third baseman. He is batting .400 including a .450 average in six games at Lipo Field with three doubles, a home run, nine runs, and seven RBI.
• The Monarchs have a staff ERA of 6.91 this year with 18 different pitchers seeing action. King's has a deep staff of 10 pitchers with five or more appearances this year.
• Colby Toth is Friday's probable starter as the freshman has pitched extremely well this season with a 4-1 record and a 3.24 ERA. His only loss of the season came last week where he went toe-to-toe with Misericordia ace Ian McCole. Toth has allowed 38 hits in 41.2 innings and has struck out 20 with opponents hitting just .244 against him.
• Alex Bruneio and Friebolin will most likely see action on the mound this weekend as the Monarchs prepare for next weekend. Bruneio has pitched well in his last two appearances stopping the bleeding with 5.2 innings of work in a 15-1 loss at Misericordia last week before shutting down Marywood on Tuesday with two innings of action. Friebolin has been great out of the pen with a 3.37 ERA in 26.2 innings. The junior has started in his last two appearances and picked up victories to improve to 4-2 on the year.
• Cooper Johnson is 2-0 with a 6.75 ERA but has been dominant at Lipo Field holding opponents to a .212 batting average with a 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings. Landon La Bar has also pitched well for KC recently, especially at home where he is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. Jacob Lupas has pitched well this year despite his 0-3 record. In 12 appearances he has a 4.85 ERA with 17 strikeouts and three three-inning saves.

The Book On The Eagles (12-23, 6-12 MAC Freedom):

• Eastern is looking to end the season on a high-note after being eliminated from postseason contention on Monday by DeSales. The Eagles have already equaled the number of conference wins they had last year in Scott Renauro's first year as head coach.
• The Eagles have lost nine of the past 10 meetings against the Monarchs including the last six games at Lipo Field. KC swept EU last year in a slugfest and two pitcher duels.
• The top four hitters in the EU lineup are hitting above .300 but as a team they are only batting .269. Liam Clarke leads the team out of the two-hole with a .371 average. The right fielder has scored 19 runs and knocked in 22.
• Britton Lawrence is hitting .348 as a corner infielder batting third. The junior has nine doubles, three triples, and hit his first home run of the year on Wednesday. He adds a team-leading 23 RBI and 19 runs.
• Mickey Foytik is expected to pitch on Saturday for his senior day. On the mound he is 3-3 this season with a 5.74 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 47 innings spanning nine games. On Friday he will be most likely be the designated hitter and bat fourth where he is hitting .344. The senior has 11 hits in 32 at-bats this season.
• Jordan Laboy is hitting .308 as the fourth or fifth hitter in the lineup with 11 runs and 10 RBI. The senior catcher has hit two doubles, two triples, and a home run this year.
• As a staff Eastern has an ERA of 6.61 in 272.1 innings pitched. Tyler Bennett and Jacob Breyer are the probable starters for the other two games in the series that Foytik isn't pitching.
• Bennett is 0-3 this year with a 5.30 ERA while Breyer is 2-3 with a 6.82 ERA. Steve Sattanino has pitched well all year out of the pen with a 4-1 record with three saves and a 3.48 ERA in 13 games. Andrew Behnam is 1-0 in 10 games including one start with a team-leading 3.18 ERA in 22.2 innings.

Up Next: King's will look to win the program's first conference championship since 2006 next weekend in the MAC Freedom Tournament.