By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — Thursday's much-anticipated home opener was arguably Messiah's best all-around performance of the 2010 season to date, as the Falcons defeated Widener University by a 6-0 score, taking the fundamental approach in doing so — solid pitching, defense, speed on the base paths and two-out hits.
Backed by a stellar pitching performance from sophomore Tory Arnesen, the Falcons recorded 10 hits at the plate and capitalized on three Pride errors en route to Messiah's first Commonwealth Conference victory of the year.
“We continue to pitch like that, and we're going to win a lot of games,” said Bryan Engle, Messiah head coach.
Arnesen (2-0) turned in the best start of his college career thus far, tossing eight strong innings for Messiah (7-7, 1-2). The right-hander took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and ended the day having allowed just three hits and four walks.
“I can't say enough about Tory's performance today,” Engle said. “He was just excellent. You really can't improve too much off of that. He mixed his splitter and changeup well and turned in a great outing.”
Arnesen struck out five and kept Widener (6-5, 2-1) off-balance with an array of pitches, resulting in 14 ground ball outs.
“The key is keeping them off-balance and Tory did just that,” Engle said. “He had great mound presence when he was out there.”
Sophomore Zach Adams came in to pitch the ninth inning, retiring the Pride easily to register the Falcons' second team shutout of the season after posting none in the entire 2009 campaign.
“Zach did a great job for us closing out the game, and I have a lot of confidence in him,” Engle said. “He controls his fastball well, he's got a good curve and his changeup worked. He was pounding the strike zone nicely.”
Offensively, the Falcons' bats got the game off to a good start. Sophomore Sam Tajiri began the Falcons' half of the first with a line drive single to right field. Senior Adam Ranck followed with a single, and after a double steal and a walk by sophomore Wes Hollenbach, senior cleanup hitter Sheldon Witmer had a golden opportunity with the bases loaded and no one out.
Witmer took advantage of the situation, drilling a base hit that scored two runs. Freshman Paul Mellinger's towering fly ball to center field later in the inning scored Witmer from third, and the sacrifice fly gave Engle's club a commanding 3-0 lead just one frame into the game.
Later, Mellinger took advantage of a bases loaded, two-out circumstance in the fifth, adding a two-run single to plate the Falcons with a five-run lead.
Defensively, Arnesen received some strong support from his teammates in the field as well.
Tajiri — who contributed with three hits at the plate on the day — made a sensational, highlight-reel catch to end the first inning, diving outstretched to snare a fly ball in left center, taking away what would have been a certain extra-base hit for the Pride.
Senior Jordan Zimmerman ended the second inning with an impressive sliding catch in center field, and sure-handed third baseman Ranck made some nice plays at the hot corner, registering six assists on the day.
Arnesen got into a jam in the fourth inning, as the Pride loaded the bases on two hits and a walk, with only one out retired. Arnesen calmly struck out Widener's Jason Brooke and forced Dennis Hocker to ground into an inning-ending out.
“In every game, there is a point when each team has a big opportunity,” Engle said. “We took advantage of it there and it was a huge momentum changer.”
For the day, just one Widener batter reached third base against Arnesen and only two managed to get into scoring position against the sophomore, who now posts an impressive 3.32 ERA for the season.
Messiah will look to build on its first league win tomorrow, as the team is slated to play a single, nine-inning contest at Elizabethtown College at 3:30 p.m. The three-game series will then shift back to Starry Field Saturday, as the Falcons will host the Blue Jays in a double-dip, set to begin at 12 p.m.
