WINTER HAVEN, FL (March 7, 2020) --- The King's College baseball team wrapped up a successful week in Florida on Saturday morning with a 12-2 victory over Cornell College from The Chain O'Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, FL. The game was called in the seventh inning due to the RussMatt Tournament 10-run rule.

The Monarchs (6-4) scored in five of the seven innings giving starter Jacob Lupas plenty of run support in his third excellent outing of the year. The junior kept the Rams (2-3) off balance in his six innings of work striking out four. Lupas improved to 3-0 on the mound this year with another six scoreless innings to give him 16.2 scoreless innings to begin the season. The lefty concludes a great week in the Florida sunshine picking up two wins in 12.2 innings of work with five strikeouts.

King's got on the board in the first inning with a run. Chris Burke and Matt Mellinger hit back-to-back two out singles before a pair of errors on a failed pickoff attempt to second allowed Burke to score and Mellinger to advance to third. After the Monarchs went down in order in the second, KC sent nine men to the plate in the third and scored three runs. The inning started with Matt Dobek reaching second base on an errant throw by the Cornell shortstop that found the stands behind the bag at first. Jonathan Hoyt knocked him with a triple down the right field line and two batters later Mellinger knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to deep left. Brendan Mozeleski hit a two-out single through the right side and scored the fourth run of the game three batters later with consecutive walks.

The Monarchs gave Lupas even more run support in the fourth scoring four runs on just three hits. The Ram made a call to the bullpen after a walk to Hoyt and Burke getting hit by a pitch. Hoyt scored and Burke moved up to third on a pair of wild pitches before Mellinger ripped a double down the left field line scoring Burke. Mozeleski walked and then Cole Keating singled through the right side to load the bases. Chris Neuhaus plated the final two runs of the inning with a single down the right field line giving KC an 8-0 lead. The advantage increased to 9-0 in the sixth as Mozeleski led off with a single through the right side and worked his away around the base paths before scoring on a wild pitch.

Cornell had their best chance to score against Lupas in the top half of the sixth loading the bases with two outs. After a leadoff walk and a rope single to second that Neuhaus was able to keep from hitting the gap, Lupas struck out two. After a six-pitch walk he got out of the inning with a ground out to third. The Rams got on the board in the seventh against Shane Beyer who relieved Lupas on the hill to begin the inning. A leadoff double followed by an infield single and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. Beyer got a couple of ground balls for the first two outs of the inning while the Rams scored on both outs to cut the advantage down to 9-2. Beyer got out of the inning with a soft popup to second.

In the bottom of the inning Dobeck led off with a single through the left side. Hoyt moved him to second with a soft grounder to short before Burke was hit by a pitch for the second time of the day. Mellinger loaded the bases with a single through the right side before Mozeleski knocked in a run with a single to right. Keating beat out a double play attempt on a grounder to second earning an RBI as Burke scored on the play. Kyle Friebolin then ended the game with a single to right plating Mellinger.

Mellinger had a big day at the plate getting three hits in four at-bats as the junior nears the 100 career hit mark. The first baseman knocked in two runs and scored twice while Mozeleski also had three hits, knocked in a run, and scored three times. Friebolin had two hits for the Monarchs while Neuhaus knocked in three runs. The top five spots in the lineup scored all 12 runs in the game as Dobeck and Hoyt scored twice and Burke scored three times.

King's will head back to Pennsylvania after splitting their eight games in Florida during the week. The teams scored over 10 runs in their last two games ending the week with a pair of wins. KC is scheduled to begin conference play next weekend with a pair of games at DeSales on Saturday before hosting the Bulldogs on Sunday. First pitch from Weiland Park in Center Valley is scheduled for 12 pm next Saturday.