WILKES-BARRE, PA (April 25, 2021) -- The King's College baseball team honored 10 members of their senior class on Sunday afternoon at Lipo Field in a socially distant ceremony prior to playing two games against Arcadia University.

The visiting Knights won both ends of the doubleheader by scores of 13-3 and 13-4 clinching a top four seed in the conference and home field advantage in next weekend's quarterfinal. The Monarchs are locked into the seventh seed after today's games and will travel to the second seed next Saturday. The Monarchs could have a say in who they will play as they wrap up the regular season on Wednesday against DeSales at Lipo Field.

Arcadia scored runs in the first five innings to build a 12-1 lead in the opener. The Knights plated three runs in the first, one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, and then five in the fifth. King's scored a run in the third on a Chris Burke double to left center. Joshua Baiera led off the inning with a walk. He moved to second on a ball back to the pitcher and then advanced to third on a wild pitch before Burke knocked him in.

Baiera also led off the fifth with a walk and advanced to second on a Matt Dobeck single up the middle. Pat Noone was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Two batters later Matt Mellinger knocked in two runs with a single up the middle scoring Dobeck and Noone. The Knights scored their final run of the game in the seventh.

Burke, Mellinger, and Andrew Steidle had two hits a piece in the opener. Mellinger went 2-for-3 at the plate with one walk and knocked in two runs.

The Knights got off to a lead in the first inning of game two scoring four runs. They added a fifth run in the second inning on a home run to left field. Arcadia tacked onto their lead with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to go up 8-0. The Monarchs cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth with their first run of the game. Cole Keating drew a two-out walk, Noone was hit by a pitch, and then Steidle knocked in Keating with a single to right field.

Arcadia responded with two more runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to increase their advantage to 12-1. The Monarchs did not go away as they had a big eighth inning scoring three runs. Noone led off the inning with a triple to left center before scoring when the Knights shortstop hit his teammate in the head with a relay throw into the infield. The ball went towards the left field line allowing Noone to get up from third and make his way home safely. Steidle and Will Hronich reached on errors before Paul Helman walked to load the bases. Dobeck knocked in a run with a single through the left side. Brennen Schneider then hit a ball deep into the gap between the left fielder and center fielder. The Knight center fielder made a diving grab on the play while Hronich made his way home and Helman tagged from second. Unfortunately for the Monarchs, the base umpire called Helman out at second for leaving early when Arcadia appealed to the base. The Knights then added another run in the ninth to set the final.

Dobeck had a great game in the leadoff spot going 3-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Noone had a hit and was hit by a pitch three times in the game and four times on the day.

King's will close out the regular season on Wednesday afternoon hosting DeSales University at 4:00 pm from Lipo Field.