WILKES-BARRE, PA (April 28, 2021) -- King's College junior Matt Bound went 4-for-4 at the plate recording a career high in hits to lead the Monarch baseball team against DeSales University in the regular season finale on Wednesday at Lipo Field.

The Bulldogs won the game 7-2 and clinched the second seed in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) Tournament that begins this weekend. The Monarchs, as the seven seed, will travel down to Center Valley on Saturday for the first two games in the best-of-three series. King's will host the if necessary game on Sunday.

King's struck first and scored their only two runs of the game in the first inning. Matt Dobeck was hit by a pitch on the fifth pitch of the game and then Brendan Mozeleski drilled an 0-2 pitch down the right field line for a double. Two batters later Matt Mellinger drove in Dobeck with a single up the middle. Cole Heitzman then drove in Chris Burke with a double down the third base line.

DeSales cut the lead in half in the fourth inning when Sergio Diaz hit a home run to straightaway center field. The Bulldogs took the lead in the sixth inning with a big four-run inning. They added two more insurance runs in the ninth to set the final score.

The Monarchs hit the ball well and put people on base against the Bulldogs all game. The only inning that King's did not record a hit was in the ninth. The Monarchs recorded 11 hits led by Bound with four and drew four walks. KC outhit the Bulldogs 11-8 in a game that featured 13 total pitchers used by both teams. Burke and Heitzman recorded two hits each for the Monarchs.

Both teams pitched multiple pitchers for a short amount of innings with the postseason starting this weekend and the possibility, turned reality, of having to face each other in the quarterfinals. Mellinger started for the Monarchs and pitched a great first inning needing only 13 pitches to put the Bulldogs down in order. Brennen Schneider relieved him in the second and pitched two innings getting three strikeouts and facing seven batters. Jordan Stefanski saw action in two-plus innings of work before being relieved by Isaac Tucker. Liam Hughes was excellent in his 2.2 innings of work striking out two and allowing just one hits while facing nine batters. Anthony Neri and Stewart Caladie finished out the final inning.

The teams will square off on Saturday for a pair of nine inning games in the quarterfinals. Game one will begin at 12:00 pm from Weiland Park while game two is scheduled for 3:00 pm or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.