BASEBALL

With the loss, King's concluded the year with a 28-12 record while Gwynedd-Mercy, which won the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference title last week and will begin NCAA tournament play on Thursday, improved to 31-10.

Trailing 1-0 in the second, the Monarch would tie the game when Matt Livoy tripled and scored on a double from Vince Budzyn.

King's would take a 2-1 lead in the third when Gracjan Kraszewski reached base on a fielder's choice and eventually scored from second on a single by Josh Faust. The Monarchs would stretch the lead to 3-1 in the sixth when Josh Faust tripled and scored off a double from twin brother Josh Faust.

In the seventh inning the game would turn as a two-out error doomed the Monarchs as Gwynedd Mercy would push across four unearned runs to take a 5-3 lead. The Griffins would add three more runs in the eighth to extend the advantage to 8-3.

King's would register its final run in the eighth when Eric Matula singled and scored on a RBI single from Budzyn.

King's out-hit Gwynedd-Mercy 14-11 but the Griffins turned two critical double-plays, one with the bases loaded and another with two men as the Monarchs stranded 10 runners on base.

Calarco Budzyn led the Monarchs offensively with three hits each. Mike Venarchick, and Josh and Jeremy Faust added two hits each.

Dan Jenkins pitched the first five inning for King's and allowed just one run on three hits. Caleb Calarco would take the loss in relief, lasting two and two-third innings, allowing seven runs, three earned, on eight hits. Paul Giovannoli would finish up for the Monarchs and did not allow a hit in one and one-third innings.