ABERDEEN, MD (March 11, 2026) -- After building a five-run cushion through six innings, a late comeback ended the King's College baseball team's trip to the Ripken Complex with a 12-8 loss to Wilson College on Wednesday afternoon. The Monarchs drop to 3-4 on the season, wrapping up their five-game trip to Aberdeen with a 3-2 record. The Phoenix pick up their first win of the year, improving to 1-5-1.
 
Left-hander Noah Gesford got the start and kept Wilson off the board through the first three frames, working 3.0 hitless innings with two strikeouts while turning soft contact into several groundouts and fly balls. After Troy Neff singled through the right side to lead off the bottom of the third and advanced on a wild pitch, King's opened the scoring on an RBI single by Owen Kosar bounced an RBI single through the right side to plate Neff. Moments later, Jordan Andino lashed an RBI double into right to score Kosar from second and make it 2-0.
 
Jimmy Fitzgerald came on in relief of Gesford in the fourth and hurled two scoreless innings, highlighted by a crisp 5-4-3 double play to erase a leadoff walk before fanning the next batter to get out of the inning. In the fifth, Brayden Schoonmaker cut down a runner attempting to steal third to take a runner off the basepaths. Fitzgerald capped his outing with another strikeout and a flyout to strand two on the bases.
 
The lead grew to 4-0 in the fifth when Neff was hit by a pitch and Dominic Carafa turned on a 1-2 pitch for a two-run shot to right; his first home run of the season. In the sixth, Brendan Kopec doubled down the left-field line, Schoonmaker sacrificed him to third before a passed ball pushed the margin to 5-0.
 
Wilson flipped the game in the seventh, using an infield error and a walk to set the table before consecutive RBI swings put the Phoenix on the board. A grand slam to right turned a 5-2 game into a 6-5 lead for the Phoenix. A run-scoring single capped the seven-run frame. King's answered in the home half as Andino worked a two-out walk, Blaze Graham was hit by a pitch, and Jaiden Wanamaker roped an RBI single to left to pull the Monarchs within 7-6.
 
Wilson tacked on four in the eighth with a string of base hits and steals to build an 11-6 cushion. Nathan Gilson led off the bottom of the frame with a pinch hit double before Ian Campbell entered to pinch run. A Neff single moved Campbell to third before he later scored on a fielder's choice paired with an infield miscue.
 
Wilson added one more in the ninth on back-to-back doubles, but the Monarchs kept pressing in their final at-bats of the afternoon. King's loaded the bases thanks to a Wanamaker single, a pinch-hit double by Mikey Timinski and a Zach Jenkins walk. Neff pushed a run across the plate after he was hit by a pitch, however the rally stalled with the tying run at the plate.
 
Carafa powered the offense with his fifth-inning two-run home run. Neff finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, Andino went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI, walk, and hit-by-pitch while Kosar and Wanamaker added two hits and an RBI. Kopec, Timinski, and Gilson each doubled as King's totaled 12 hits but left 12 on base.
 
Gesford's 3.0 scoreless, hitless start highlighted the pitching effort before the Monarchs turned to the bullpen, using Fitzgerald, Brian Beltre, Aydan Davis, Owen Kliesh and Dusty Shaver to get through the final six frames.
 
The Monarchs open Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) play on Saturday with a road doubleheader at Lebanon Valley. First pitch in Game 1 against the Flying Dutchmen is set for 12:00 p.m.