WILKES-BARRE, PA (May 2, 2024) - - Despite King's College baseball falling short to Clarks Summit University in the team's final game of the season, several Monarchs stepped up to the plate with big performances. Nick Ciszak hit the final home run of his career out of the park, in addition to Zach Jenkins and Jaiden Wanamaker hitting their last doubles of their rookie debuts. Justin Stefanowicz ended the season with a triple as well. King's finishes the 2024 season with an overall record of 11-24 and 5-16 in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play. 

The Defenders took on an early lead after scoring on a groundout to second base in the top of the first inning. They slowly began to build on their lead in the second inning, picking up another run on a single sent to left field. The Monarchs put their first run of the day on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Chase Yochem reached on fielder's choice to give Michale Marmolejos the opportunity to run home, cutting Clarks Summit's lead to just 2-1.

However, the Defenders had a big fourth inning at the plate to extend their lead to five runs over King's. They scored one run on a walk in the top of the fourth, followed by a second on fielder's choice. Ryan Naillon then hit a two-run double to center field before Brennen Schneider and Kevin Kullman threw Naillon out at third on the advance. This put the Defenders ahead of the Monarchs 6-1 until the sixth inning when Clarks Summit earned another run on fielder's choice to go up 7-1. Jenkins hit his double in the bottom of the sixth, but unfortunately King's could not capitalize on it.

The Monarchs held off the Defenders in the top of the seventh before earning two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. After Stefanowicz and Wanamaker got on base as the lead off and second batter, Zach Day singled to right field to send Stefanowicz in to score. Kullman reached on fielder's choice shortly after, which allowed Wanamaker to get the second run, putting King's at just a 7-3 deficit. 

Clarks Summit scored twice on two separate singles in the top of the eighth inning to score its last runs of the game as the Monarchs held the Defenders off in the nineth inning  after scoring two more runs in the bottom of the eighth. Ciszak ripped his home run out of the park as the lead-off hitter for King's. Wanamaker doubled to right field for the final run of the day as Clarks Summit also prevented the Monarchs from scoring in the bottom of the nineth. The Defenders left Lipo Field with the 9-5 win over King's. 

Ciszak and Wanamaker led the Monarchs' offense with two hits, one run and one RBI each. Stefanowicz contributed a hit and two runs as well. Day and Kullman ended the season with a hit and an RBI each, while Marmolejos finished with a hit and a run. Caleb Graham and Matt Masala both ended with four strikeouts on the mound for a total of eight for King's.

After today's game, the Monarchs conclude their season with an 11-24 overall record and 5-16 record in conference play.