Kenny Durling, Jeff Slanovec and Andres Gonzalez all had three or more hits as the top-seeded Misericordia University baseball team won its Freedom Conference playoff opener, 13-4 over King's in Quakertown, PA.

Durling was on fire, going 4-for-5 with four runs scored and two solo home runs. Senior Nate Newman also homered and was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and four runs scored.

Gonzalez hit 3-for-4 with three RBIs and scored twice. Slanovec was 3-for-4 and knocked in a pair of runs.

The Monarchs were led by sophomore Chris Sweeney, who also homered twice and finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Rich Acierno and Matt Pritchard were each 2-for-4.

Down 2-0 early, MU rallied with four runs in the bottom of the second. Gonzalez first tied the game by doubling in Newman and Durling. Junior Nate Hamlin then recovered from an injury sustained in the field to beat out a bunt single, and Joe Tagliarini brought both runners home with a single to right.

Durling scored on Newman's homer in the third and then knocked one over the fence himself to put Misericordia ahead 7-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

The runs kept coming for MU as Slanovec knocked in Hamlin in the fifth, although the Monarchs' Rob Lemoncelli made an outstanding stop and throw deep from the gap at short to get Tagliarini and prevent further damage.

Durling homered again in the bottom of the sixth, and Misericordia scored in every inning after being shutout and falling behind in the first.

The Monarchs were off to a great start when Sweeney launched a two-out solo shot over the left-center fence in the top of the first, his league-leading 11th of the season. Sweeney would add a 12th later in the day.

Things got worse for the Cougars in the top of the second, as Pritchard ripped a double off the wall to score Brenton Eades. MU avoided further damage by throwing Pritchard out at third.

King's loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with just one gone but Clark struck out Tim Marchetti for the second out and Andrew Tressa completed a neat flip to Ryan Cacchioli to force the third out.

The Monarchs should have scored in the top of the fifth but Tressa relayed Hamlin's throw to catch Joey Troxell out at home. On the next at-bat, Sweeney launched his second bomb of the day to pull the visitors to within three at 7-4.

MU junior Patrick Clark improved to a league-best 7-1 with a complete game performance. Troxell (4-2) took the loss for King's.

Misericordia is 24-13 on the season, while King's falls to 16-18-1. Both teams will await the result of DeSales vs. FDU-Florham to find out their next opponent as the playoffs continue tomorrow at Memorial Stadium.