By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
West Lawn, PA — Three weeks ago, the Messiah baseball team appeared to be left for dead following a double-header loss at the hands of Albright College, dropping head coach Bryan Engle's squad to just 4-8 in Commonwealth Conference play on the season.
Now?
Well, following a 22-10 drumming of the top-seeded seeded Widener University in the opening round of the Commonwealth Tournament, there can't be too many teams out there eager to play the Falcons.
The 22 runs scored by Messiah (22-16) represent the second-most the team has scored in a game during Engle's three years as head coach, while the 27 hits mark the highest single-game total by a Messiah squad this millennium. Oh, and the Falcons did so in the single most important game of the year thus far.
“Crooked numbers like that are a great thing,” Engle said. “We just hit, hit, hit today.”
The Falcons received strong contributions from nearly every member of their offense and a solid pitching outing by sophomore Tory Arnesen led to the team's most lopsided win of the season.
Arnesen (5-2) threw seven innings on the mound at Owls Field, allowing just four earned runs. The right-hander yielded seven hits, walked four and struck out six Pride hitters in picking up his fifth win of the year.
“Tory threw a great game for us,” Engle said. “With that kind of offensive support, it's pretty easy to pitch well. He was pitching against a very good offensive team and he felt comfortable out there on the mound. He just kept pounding the strike zone for us. Getting seven innings out of your starter in an important playoff game is huge.”
Meanwhile, Messiah's offense was explosive, to say the least. Eight of the nine starters collected multiple hits for the game. Seniors Sheldon Witmer and Jon Shenk and sophomore Ryan Brown contributed with three apiece. Senior Adam Ranck and sophomore John Brubaker had four-hit days for the Falcons, while senior Jordan Zimmerman led the way with a 5-6 performance at the plate.
The seniors — Witmer, Zimmerman, Etter, Ranck and Shenk — hit .533 (15-28) for the day, but with the entire team hitting .473 (27-57), it was a day to remember offensively for the Falcons.
“Whatever we're doing — hitting with two outs, hitting with two strikes — it's working,” Engle said. “We've just been in the right spot at the right time. Our guys are comfortable and they did a fine job today against one of the best pitchers in the conference. Thankfully we were able to bunch our hits together today. It's almost a contagious fever.”
Seven Falcons runs off of Widener starter Jason Ferrie (7-2) in the second inning broke the game wide open for Messiah, highlighted by Brown's big two-run home run, his second in as many games. Ranck, Brubaker, sophomore Wes Hollenbach, Witmer and Zimmerman also had RBI hits for the Falcons, giving Engle's squad a commanding 7-0 lead when the dust settled.
When the Pride jumped on the board with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Falcons answered right back with two runs of their own in the top of the fifth. Ranck collected an RBI triple and Brown hit an RBI single to give the Falcons a 9-3 lead.
Three more Falcons runs in the sixth inning gave Messiah a 12-3 lead, as Witmer, Zimmerman and Ranck drove in the runs. The Falcons also capitalized on two Pride errors in the inning and an astounding seven Widener defensive miscues on the day.
Coach Engle's squad wasn't finished, as the Falcons tacked on 10 more runs in the seventh inning for a football-like 22-4 lead.
Thirteen Falcons batted in the inning, putting the finishing touches on one of the finest offensive days in the history of Messiah College baseball.
Witmer capped off the frame with a monstrous three-run home run to right center field — the senior's team-leading fourth of the year. Shenk had a two-run single, while Zimmerman, Brown, Sam Tajiri and Brubaker each drove in a run in the stanza.
Widener (21-11) tacked on six meaningless runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but the Falcons walked away with a 22-10 win to begin the Commonwealth Conference Tournament, after winning their final six regular-season league games just to get in.
Messiah's 22 runs under the tutelage of Engle was second-best only to the 25 runs the team scored at Eastern University back on Apr. 8, 2008 — Engle's first year at the helm. That outburst still stands as a program record.
“What a beautiful day to play,” Engle said. “I told the team to be proud of themselves, because they worked themselves in. I am excited that we get to keep playing, and I just want to enjoy it.”
Messiah will now face second-seeded Elizabethtown College Friday at 3 p.m., after the Blue Jays upset top-seeded Alvernia University 14-10 in another score-fest. Should the Falcons win Friday's game, they would advance to Saturday's league championship at 3 p.m. A loss would pit Messiah against the winner of the Widener-Alvernia winner Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Complete details can be found at the official site of the Commonwealth Conference Baseball Tournament.
