West Lawn, PA — If the MAC Commonwealth Playoffs were being played in Las Vegas, the odds would favor the Messiah College baseball team as of 10:30 p.m. Friday night.
Messiah (26-15) blew past rival Elizabethtown College by a 15-4 score in Friday afternoon's semi-finals, setting up yet another face-off with the Blue Jays Saturday: After E'Town handed Widener University a 4-3 defeat in Friday's nightcap, it earned a berth in Saturday's grand finale.
As a result, Messiah will now face Elizabethtown (24-11) at 12 p.m. Saturday. Should the Falcons win, they'll take the league championship and automatic qualification into NCAA Regional play. Should the team lose, they'll get another chance at E'Town in a winner-take-all contest immediately following the 12 p.m. event.
In the MAC Commonwealth's double-elimination tournament, this is how it goes. Messiah needs just one win over Elizabethtown — the league's regular-season champion and top seed — and it has two possible chances to do so.
“A bunch of our guys were saying the same thing after Friday's win,” said Messiah head coach Bryan Engle. “We didn't come here just to win two games.”
That's exactly what Engle's club has done in two outings, however, beating Albright College by a 3-0 score Thursday night before putting a 15-4 whallop on E'Town Friday. After being swept by the Blue Jays in the teams' three-game regular-season series, it was the Falcons that made the most of the opportunity at Owls Field, scoring 13 of its 15 runs in the final four innings.
“The final score of tonight's game was not indicative of how close this game actually was,” Engle said. “We did hit the ball extremely well today, though, and our pitching and defense wasn't bad, either.”
Senior Craig Mease was the primary culprit in the offensive onslaught, going 4-5 with a lead-off double and his 10th home run of the season in the third, accounting for Messiah's first two runs of the game. Mease was eventually driven in off a single from sophomore Sheldon Witmer in the first inning, while a shot just over the right-field wall tied the game 2-2 in the top of the third inning.
Witmer then found his groove on the mound, allowing just four Blue Jays' hits in the middle four innings.
Messiah exploded for four runs in the sixth, three in the seventh, two in the eighth and four in the ninth, pummeling five Elizabethtown pitchers for a total 17 hits. All were singles save for Mease's two blasts and a double from sophomore Jordan Zimmerman. Perhaps the team's most notable at-bats came in the sixth, where the Falcons were able to turn on the run scoring in the midst of a 2-2 game. Junior Ben Kirk knocked a two-RBI single to start things off a 2-2 pitch, while sophomore Jon Shenk followed with another two-RBI single.
The line of the day belonged to Mease, however, as the senior went 4-5 with five runs scored and an RBI. His afternoon helped rewrite the Messiah record books, as Mease now holds the single-season records for home runs (10), RBI (49) and runs scored (50), tying the mark for hits with 63.
“Craig was the man today,” Engle said. “How Craig Mease goes offensively, we go offensively, and today he was the pace setter. He's had a very, very solid tournament so far.”
Witmer (6-1) picked up the pitching win, going seven innings and striking out five batters. Senior Ben Jordan came on in relief in the eighth inning, giving up just one hit in a relaxed appearance.
Witmer helped himself in going 4-5 at the plate with three runs scored and two RBI, while Zimmerman finished with a 3-6 line and two RBI. Kirk finished 2-4 with three batted in, while Shenk and junior Jonny Ebersole finished with two RBI apiece.
“Elizabethtown hit the ball today, they just didn't get the timely hits or clutch hits,” Engle said. “We didn't hurt ourselves in the field. We held Sheldon out (of pitching against E'Town) during the regular season, and that proved to be a good decision. It was also a good idea to let him hit today while pitching. He was fantastic.”
As Engle watched Elizabethtown follow with a 4-3 win over Widener late Friday night, it was clear that this would not be the final meeting between the teams. Saturday's title will come down to the top two seeds, either in one game or two.
“This is how it should be,” Engle said of the match-up. “They're a great team, and our guys are ready. Tonight our effort was very good and our focus was very good. Facing our rivals, I don't need to worry about that. It should be fun tomorrow. This is what you play for.”
Championship game time is set for 12 p.m. at Owls Field Saturday. Should Elizabethtown win that game, a second, winner-take-all contest will be played immediately thereafter. Keep tabs on game scores by visiting the MAC Commonwealth Conference Baseball Tournament web site. Scores will also be updated on GoMessiah.com, as they become available.
