MARCH 27, 2007
KING'S BASEBALL DEFEATS FDU. 4-1 WINS SEASON SERIES
WILKES-BARRE -- Freshman pitcher Dan Jenkins scattered eight hits
over nine innings and the King's College baseball team scored runs in
three consecutive innings to post a 4-1 victory over visiting
FDU-Florham in a battle of returning Freedom Conference playoff squads
Tuesday at Betzler Fields.
With the win, King's improved to 9-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
FDU, meanwhile, slipped to 6-5 and 1-2. The victory also enable
the Monarchs, who were making their 2007 home debut, to post a 2-1
advantage over FDU in the three-game season series.
FDU would take a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Scott Zirul
registered a leadoff hit and would eventually score from third on a
two-out bloop single to right field by D.J. Hanna.
The Monarchs would tie the game in the fourth inning when Mike
Venarchick reached base on an error and later scored on a two-out single
by Matt Livoy.
FDU nearly recaptured the lead in the fifth when Tyler Nagle singled and
moved to second on a walk to Matt Oliveto. Hanna would then stroke a
two-out single to right field. Nagle would attempt to score from
second but a perfect throw by Livoy from Livoy allowed catcher Jeremy
Faust to apply the inning-ending tag at the plate to snuff out the Devil
scoring chance.
King's would take advantage in the bottom half of the fifth when J.R.
Graver tripled to right center, then scored on a single by Jon
Venarchick to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead.
King's would push across its final two runs in the sixth when Mike
Venarchick reached base on an error and Jeremy Faust singled to right
field. After Josh Faust drew a walk to load the bases, Livoy lofted a
sacrifice fly to right field to plate Venarchick and give the Monarchs a
3-1 lead. Pat McGlynn would then follow with an RBI single to bring home
Jeremy Faust with the game's final run.
Jenkins, meanwhile, was solid in striking out five batters and walking
just one while shutting out the devils over the final six innings of
play. The Monarch rookie improved to 2-0 with a 0.79 earned run average
over the course of 22 innings.
Jon Venarchick led King's with a 3-for-5 showing while Graver was
2-for-5, including a triple and double. McGlynn also added a pair of
base hits while Livoy went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Hanna and Nagel tallied two hits each to lead FDU. Devil starter Chris
Jones took the loss, allowing four runs, two that were earned, in six
innings and struck out three batters.
King's returns to action Wednesday when the Monarchs host College
Misericordia at 3:30 p.m. at Betzler Fields.
