WILKES-BARRE (PA) – King's College scored five runs in the sixth inning as the Monarchs pulled away to a 9-4 victory over visiting Delaware Valley College in the first of a three-game, Freedom Conference series with the Aggies.

King's improved to 12-7 overall and 7-3 in the Freedom while Delaware Valley fell to 8-12-1 overall and 1-9 in league action. The series will now shift to Doylestown for a doubleheader on Saturday.

The Aggies trailed 3-0 heading into the top of the fifth when they loaded the bases with nobody out on consecutive singles by Michael Kerns, Zach Chodur and Jim Calabrese. Gary Cooper followed with another single to knock in Kerns. The next two batters were retired by Kellen Jarrett ripped a single to score two runs and tie the contest.

However, the Monarchs took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Sean Rooney. They then broke the game wide open in the seventh by sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs off of four hits and two Delaware Valley errors. The big blows in the innings were two-run singles by Matt Unger and Jeremy Bonser.

Delaware Valley's final run came in the ninth as Mike Isgro doubled and later scored on an RBI single by Dan Hrubos. Isgro finished the game 3-for-5 to up his batting average to .546 (42-for-77) on the season. Kerns and Jarrett were also each 3-for-5 with Jarrett knocking in two. Calabrese went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Brian Hafer pitched six innings and took the loss.

Rooney was a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs for King's. Bonser was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs while Unger and Joey Troxell were each 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Eric Matula pitched eight strong innings to earn the win.