Box Score
By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — Frigid temperatures and a wind chill in the upper 30's may have made Messiah's home game against Arcadia University almost unplayable, but it certainly didn't make it unwinnable.
The elements didn't seem to phase junior pitcher Tory Arnesen, as the right-hander delivered his usual strong outing in leading the Falcons to a 6-2 victory in the first of a three-game weekend Commonwealth Conference series.
Arnesen (3-1) threw a complete game win, allowing just a single earned run. He allowed 10 hits, two walks and struck out four batters. Arnesen — who lowered his team-best ERA to 1.09 on the season — induced 15 ground ball outs on the day.
“Tory threw extremely well given the weather and all the elements,” said Messiah head coach Steve DeRiggs. “It's always tough to get loose in this cold and he gave us a complete game when it was really needed. He has been a tower of strength and gave us an excellent effort today.”
It was Arnesen's second straight complete game on the mound, as he was fresh off a seven-inning, two-hit shutout against Albright College last weekend.
“Tory did a really great job getting ahead of hitters today and mixing his pitches for nine innings,” said Messiah pitching coach Elliot Thomas. “For him to toss a complete game was more than we could have asked for, especially with a mixed up rotation this week.”
The cold weather didn't seem to slow down the Falcons' bats, either, as Messiah (8-11, 4-0) scored six runs, led by freshman Jacob Sprengle's two-run home run — the team's first bomb of the season.
“We hit the ball well today,” DeRiggs said. “Especially since it's cold, the ball doesn't exit as well off the bat, but we hit a number of balls hard and picked up people when he could. We didn't leave as many men on base and had some timely hits. I was impressed overall by their performance.”
After falling behind 1-0 in the second inning when Arcadia (1-12, 0-4) put a run across the board on a Falcons' error, Messiah scored in five consecutive frames.
Sprengle hit a towering sacrifice fly in the second inning to score sophomore Paul Mellinger, junior John Brubaker hit an RBI single to score classmate Sam Tajiri in the third inning, and then Sprengle unleashed his two-run shot to right center field to put the Falcons up 4-1 in the fourth inning.
Junior Wes Hollenbach added a sacrifice fly in the fifth and classmate Ryan Brown walked and circled the bases on a series of passed balls and wild pitches in the sixth to give Arnesen some insurance runs to work with on the mound.
Solid defense from the Falcons was key in the win, as freshman third baseman Jon Lapp and Brubaker, at shortstop, handled a number of chances in the field well, in helping the Falcons win their fourth straight game and stay undefeated in conference play.
Adam Planamento (0-4) from the Knights took the loss for the day.
The Falcons have a chance to finish off the Knights tomorrow, as Messiah travels to Arcadia's Erny Field in Glenside, Pa. for a double-header that is set to begin at 12 p.m.
“We are playing seven-inning games, so we can't fall behind too early,” DeRiggs said. “We need to jump out and take an early lead. We will have a challenge to overcome some elements again and we will need to manage the game and get our rhythm early on.”
