Grantham, PA — A mid-week game against a top-notch, non-conference opponent turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for the Messiah College baseball team Wednesday afternoon, as the Falcons topped Juniata College by an 11-2 score.
The win snapped an 11-game winning streak for Juniata (12-7, 5-0) while keeping a stellar stretch alive for Messiah (16-7, 2-1), as the Falcons have now won 12 of their last 13 games.
The day also proved to be good medicine for Messiah head coach Bryan Engle, who missed Tuesday's practice with a case of the stomach flu.
“It was not a fun day yesterday,” Engle said following Wednesday's game. “But this was a good way to come back to work.”
Engle's club wasted no time in generating offense against the Eagles, scoring a run in its first at-bat and three in the bottom of the second stanza. A pair of singles to start the game eventually equated to the game's first score, while a two-out, two-RBI single from senior Craig Mease brought in the initial two runs in the second. An RBI base-knock from sophomore Adam Ranck followed, and Messiah had built a quick 4-0 lead.
“I thought it was huge that we were able to score three runs in the second inning, all with two outs and nobody on base,” Engle said. “Craig Mease took an 0-2 pitch to bring home (our first two runs of the inning), and we went from 1-0 to 4-0 pretty quickly.”
Juniata was able to pull within a 4-1 score following three singles in the fourth, but Messiah flipped its own script in the fifth and sixth innings to turn the game into a yawner. A lead-off double from Mease ignited a three-run fifth, while two walks and a pair of fielder's choices led to another score in the sixth stanza.
A pair of Eagles' errors helped Messiah to three more scores in the seventh inning, and the Falcons led 11-1. Two Falcons' errors would provide Juniata with its only additional offense — the visitors scored its other run in the eighth inning after Engle had emptied his bench — and Messiah had completed a dominating victory.
“I had a chance to see Juniata play on Sunday, and I thought they were a very good team,” Engle said. “We just caught them on a down day. We prepared for them very hard, however, and we really wanted to do well today against a quality regional team. Sometimes, once you're into league play, there's a tendency to be focused on the weekend (conference) games and come out flat in the mid-week (non-conference) games. That was not the case for our guys today.”
Mease led Messiah's offense, going 3-4 with two RBI and three runs scored. Sophomore Jordan Zimmerman finished 1-2 with a run scored and two RBI, while Ranck and senior Ben Jordan each singled twice. Ranck brought two runs home, while Jordan, Mease and sophomore Sheldon Witmer all doubled.
Senior Chandler Sheaffer (2-1) collected the pitching win for Messiah, striking out four while walking none in seven complete innings of work. Classmate Jeremy Stoltzfus came on in relief, striking out two in a non-save situation.
Juniata actually out-hit Messiah by an 11 to 10 count, but Sheaffer effectively scattered those occasions, allowing the visitors multiple-hit innings only twice.
“I thought Chandler Sheaffer had a pretty good outing today, issuing no walks,” Engle said. “He's not a guy that's going to blow it by you, but he mixed speeds well and moved his locations around all day. One of the things I mentioned afterward to our guys, and we've preached it all year long, is 'next game.' Of course it's good to have just beaten a very good team, and I thought we played very well over the first seven innings, but we've got to be focused on the next game.”
Messiah will return to MAC Commonwealth action for three of its next contests, as the Falcons will face a home-and-home scenario with Lebanon Valley College this weekend. The team will travel to LVC for a single, nine-inning contest at 3 p.m. Friday, while hosting the Flying Dutchmen in a Saturday double-header beginning at 12 p.m.
