BASEBALL

QUAKERTOWN -- The King's College baseball team fell short in its quest to win back-to-back Freedom Conference championships as the Monarchs dropped a pair of tournament games Saturday at Quakertown Memorial Park.

King's dropped its first game of the day to Wilkes University 17-8 in the winner's bracket final. The Monarchs were then eliminated by DeSales 5-1 in a second-round playback game.

King's, which established a new school single-season victory record, saw its 2007 slate fall to 28-11.

In the opener, King's fell victim to the red-hot bats of Wilkes, which banged out six home runs in the game while tallying 20 base hits. The Monarchs were down 4-4 after two innings, but rallied to the the game at 4-4 with two runs in the third and two more in the fourth. But Wilkes erupted for six runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to build a 14-4 lead. King's would push across three in the bottom half of the sixth to cut the gap to 14-7, but it was not enough. The fourth-seeded Colonels won their 10th straight game to reach Saturday's title game.

J.R. Graver led King's with a 4-for-5 effort with three runs while Jon Venarchick was 3-for-5 with two RBI. Mike Venarchick was 2-for-4 with two RBI while Caleb Calarco also finished 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jeremy Faust added a solo home run for the Monarchs.

Wilkes was led by Eric Wetzel who was 3-for-3 with two home runs and seven RBI. Chris Mayerski followed at 2-for-6 with two home runs and five RBI.

King's freshman Eric Matula (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing nine runs on 12 hits in 4.2 innings. Corey Helfrich picked up the win for Wilkes yielding seven runs in 5.1 innings.

In King's second game of the day against DeSales, the Bulldogs scored two runs in the second inning and one run in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings.

King's would score its lobe run of the game in the eighth when Vince Budzyn singled and moved to third on a base hit by Graver. Jon Venarchick would drive in Budzyn on an infield ground out to second base. Paul Giovannoli (2-5) took the loss, allowing five runs, thee earned, on nine hits whiel striking out two batters.

Scott Matejicka led DeSales by going 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. J.T. Brotosky was 1-for-3 with two RBI and a double. Matt Lezinsky was 2-for-4 with a triple. Mark Reilly was the inner, going eight innings and yielding five hits while striking out four batters.

King's will now await word on an outside shot an an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but are also eligible for a possible Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament berth should they get bypassed by the NCAA.

2007 Freedom Conference Tournament Schedule
at Quakertown Memorial Park, Quakertown, Pa.

Friday, May 4
Game 1 - #4 Wilkes defeated #1 DeSales, 4-3 (11 innings)
Game 2 - #2 King's defeated #3 FDU-Florham, 5-0

Saturday, May 5
Game 3 - #1 DeSales defeated #3 FDU-Florham, 9-8
Game 4 - # 4 Wilkes defeated #2 King's, 17-8
Game 5 - #1 DeSales defeated #2 King's, 5-1

Sunday, May 6
Game 6 - #4 Wilkes vs. #1 DeSales, 12:00 pm
Game 7 - Same Teams (If necessary), 3:00 pm

***DeSales must defeat Wilkes twice as the Freedom Conference Tournament is a double elimination event. Wilkes enters the final with a 2-0 record while DeSales is 2-1.