West Lawn, PA — For the Messiah College baseball team, hearing first-year head coach Bryan Engle's game philosophy may have been like listening to a broken record.
Thursday night in the first game of the MAC Commonwealth Playoffs, it was clear the message had sunk in.
Messiah (25-15) handed Albright College a 3-0 defeat at Owls Field behind a stellar pitching performance from senior Dan Kern, as the Falcons' leader went the distance on the mound in allowing just two hits in only the team's third shut-out win of the season.
Messiah, the number two seed in the four-team, double-elimination tournament, advances to face top-seed Elizabethtown College Friday, as the Blue Jays upended Widener University by a 4-0 count in Thursday's first contest.
“All year long, we've been preaching 'one game at a time,'” Engle said late Thursday night. “I'm sure the guys got sick of hearing it at times, but I think it kept us grounded during some really good times over the course of the season and some tougher times. Now, it's the exact same philosophy, only it really counts. I think we're approaching (the post-season) as not being a bigger deal, but just a little more fun. It sure was fun tonight.”
Messiah's enjoyment of the moment was clear from the outset Thursday, as the Falcons opened with a two-run bottom of the first to set the stage for Kern's dominating performance on the mound. Senior Craig Mease led off with a double, and was eventually driven home by a single from sophomore Sheldon Witmer just two batters later. After Witmer advanced to second on an error from the Lions' first baseman, junior Ben Kirk singled to bring Witmer across the plate, giving Messiah a 2-0 lead.
It was then that Kern (6-3) settled in to give Engle perhaps the club's most clutch pitching effort of the season, retiring 16 straight Albright batters — a stretch that encompassed the final out of the first inning all the way to the conclusion of the sixth. Only a hit batter to start the seventh would momentarily break the streak, though Kern forced a 5-4-3 double play to the Lions' next batter.
A fly out followed, setting up the Falcons' final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh, a score coming off a towering home run from Mease with two outs retired. The solo shot was Mease's ninth of the season, tying the Messiah single-season record.
Kern then retired the eighth inning in order and came away unscathed from a minor predicament in the ninth, as Albright (16-17) singled and drew a walk with two outs retired.
With the Lions' clean-up hitter representing the tying run at the plate, Kern recorded a backwards K to end the game, only his second strikeout in a workman-like performance.
“Danny Kern was absolutely fantastic tonight,” Engle said. “He picked an awfully good time to have his best pitching performance of the year. He commanded the zone and stayed down in it all night, and we played tremendous defense behind him. We got just enough timely hits to get it done, though scoring early was big.”
With Kern grabbing the majority of the headlines, classmate Mease could not be overlooked, going 3-4 from the plate with two runs scored and an RBI. Messiah generated just seven hits on the game, as Witmer (one scored, one RBI), Kirk (one RBI), sophomore Jordan Zimmerman and sophomore Jon Shenk all singled.
Kern finished allowing just one walk and two hits, forcing 15 ground outs and nine fly outs. He faced just 33 total batters.
Albright's Casey Lawrence (4-3) suffered the pitching loss. During the regular season, Lawrence got the better of the exact same pitching match-up, leading the Lions to a 3-1 win at Albright on Mar. 28.
Engle moved to 4-0 lifetime in the first round of MAC Commonwealth Playoff action — 3-0 as a player and now 1-0 as a head coach.
“Craig Mease continued his push for conference MVP tonight,” Engle said. “I'm just happy for the guys. It was a great result for us tonight, and we played really well. Our focus was really good, and we're excited to have a crack at E'Town tomorrow. They're playing really well and they're the number one seed for a reason. We'll give it our best and see where the chips fall.”
Messiah will take on Elizabethtown at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon. A win would propel the Falcons into a championship appearance Saturday, while a loss would pit the team against the loser of the Widener-Albright match-up at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Complete schedules and scenarios for the double-elimination tournament are available by visiting the 2008 MAC Commonwealth Conference Baseball Tournament web site.
