The Misericordia University baseball team opened the 2016 MAC Freedom Championships with a 4-1 win behind a solid outing by Ryan Dorosh with relief help from Elliot Forde.
 
Dorosh struck out five while allowing just five hits and no earned runs in 7.2 innings and improved to 6-2 on the season.  Forde was perfect while recording the final four outs for his fourth save.
 
Jeremy DeCotiis had two hits and Alec Iurato and Al Reda both drove in runs for the Cougars.
 
Kyle Lupas and Sean Padden both had two hits for King's.
 
Andrew Fisher scattered seven hits over eight innings while absorbing the loss.
 
The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and added three runs in the sixth while King's plated its lone run in the eighth inning.
 
Chris Boroch was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first and moved to third on a throwing error on Kyle Lindsay's bunt.  Iurato flied out to center to score Boroch and put the Cougars up 1-0.
 
King's loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but Dorosh got an inning-ending ground out to escape the jam.
 
D.J. Navoczynski doubled down the left field line to lead off the bottom of the sixth and scored on a throwing error on Mike Comerford's bunt single.  DeCotiis reached on a bunt single and both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Miles Westrich.
 
Comerford came home on Reda's squeeze bunt and Decotiis made it 4-0 on a wild pitch.
 
The Monarchs loaded the bases again with two outs in the eighth, but Forde came on and induced a slow roller to second base for the final out.
 
Misericordia will face the DeSales/Manhattanville winner, Saturday evening while King's will play the loser in an elimination game, Saturday afternoon.