Box Score
by Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Reading, PA - Desperately needing a win in the first of a three-game conference series with the Albright College Lions (7-14, 1-3), the Messiah Falcons (6-16, 2-5) exploded for a season-high 16 runs. Seven different players had multiple hits and both
Matt Turman and
Sam Tajiri homered in the offensive onslaught.
The conference win broke a seven-game losing streak for the Messiah Falcons, who utilized a six-run fifth inning and capitalized on six Lions errors for the game, while riding a strong pitching performance from senior
Wes Hollenbach in relief.
Senior
John Brubaker put the Falcons on board in the first inning by blasting a triple to deep right center field and then scoring on sophomore
Jacob Sprengle's RBI single to center field.
Junior
Matt Turman knocked a solo home run in the second inning – his second long ball in as many games – to give the Falcons a two-run lead.
Meanwhile, senior ace
Tory Arnesen threw two scoreless innings on the mound before handing the ball to classmate
Wes Hollenbach, who tossed five innings of his own. Hollenbach (2-0), making just the third pitching appearance of his collegiate career, allowed three earned runs on five hits and a pair of walks, striking out two and inducing seven ground balls.
Each senior pitcher for the Falcons was particularly adept at working his way out of jams – Arnesen escaped consecutive two-on jams, and Hollenbach worked his way out of a two-on situation in the fourth inning.
Six runs for Messiah in the fifth inning all but put the game away, as the Falcons capitalized on a plethora of Lions errors and four hits of their own. Tajiri, senior
Ryan Brown, junior
Paul Mellinger, and freshman
Derek Drake collected the base knocks, with Sprengle slamming a bases-loaded drive to deep left field that cleared the bases.
The Lions scored a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth inning to make it an 8-4 game, but Messiah responded with four runs of its own in the top half of the seventh inning to maintain an eight-run lead. Mellinger began the rally with a base hit and steals of both second and third base before scoring on senior
John Brubaker's sacrifice fly to right field. Turman scored Sprengle on a base hit, and Tajiri capped off the rally with a two-run home run to left field.
Sprengle, Drake, and Tajiri each contributed with RBI singles in the eighth inning to add to Messiah's lead, and Brubaker's RBI double in the ninth inning put the finishing touches on the Falcons' finest offensive outburst since a 22-10 win over Widener University in the 2010 Commonwealth Conference playoffs.
Senior
Davin Okerblom threw the final two innings in relief, allowing a lone run.
Tajiri and Sprengle led the rally with three hits and three RBIs apiece, while the Falcons' bottom five hitters in the lineup combined to go 11-for-27 (.407) with a double, triple, home run, 10 runs scored, eight RBIs, and a pair of stolen bases.
Messiah returns home on Saturday to host the Lions in a doubleheader to finish off the conference series. Game time for the first of the two contests is slated for 12 p.m.
