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by Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA - The Messiah Falcons (12-20) are heading to their weekend series with the Arcadia Knights on a wave of momentum, as the Falcons knocked off the Susquehanna Crusaders (13-19) by a 20-8 score in Wednesday afternoon's home contest. The 20 runs marked Messiah's highest single-game scoring output since a 22-10 win over Widener University in the Commonwealth Conference playoffs two seasons ago.
“We hit the ball really well yesterday and today,” Messiah head coach Steve DeRiggs said. “With the way we have struggled pitching the ball this season, we have to hit the ball and hit it well. We had a lot of guys with multiple hits, and once again, we scored early in the game.”
In this contest, the Falcons scored eight runs in the first inning, reached the double-digit mark by the second frame, and finished off their final offensive frame with four runs in the eighth inning. Senior
Ryan Brown and sophomore
Jacob Sprengle led the onslaught with two-run home runs each, five players had multiple hits, and all 12 offensive players to see action reached base.
Meanwhile, senior
Nate Roten (1-4) turned in a fine outing on the mound, throwing five innings, allowing just one earned run for the win. Roten allowed just one walk and struck out six batters.
“(Nate) pitched a good game and kept us in it,” DeRiggs said. “He gave us a big lift, because we have five games in five days, and we needed someone to go at least five innings, and he did that for us.”
The Falcons started this game similarly to the way yesterday's game against Shenandoah began, with Messiah picking up a slew of early runs. The Falcons scored eight times in the first on Brown's home run, plus two-run doubles from John and
Zach Brubaker. Sprengle's two-run blast to right field in the second inning made it a 10-0 game, and Brown followed with an RBI single in the third inning to give the Falcons 11 runs.
Messiah picked up four more runs in the fourth inning to reach the 15-run mark, with this inning capped off by senior
Sam Tajiri's two-run single. The Falcons added another four-spot in the eighth inning, doing so on RBI singles from junior Matt Fenton and freshman
Derek Drake.
Brown led the offensive rally with two hits, including a home run, plus a walk and three runs batted in. Tajiri singled and walked twice, scored three runs, and drove in two. J.Brubaker drove in two, and Z.Brubaker reached all four times while driving in three runs. Junior
Paul Mellinger collected two hits and two hit by pitches, scoring three times. Drake singled twice and drove in a run, Sprengle scored three runs and homered, Turman scored twice on a single and a walk, and Hollenbach fueled the first-inning rally with an RBI double.
In relief, Messiah used junior
Paul Broomell in the sixth inning and freshman
Drew Mininger in the seventh and eighth inning. Sophomore
Colby Helgerson finished it off with a hitless frame in the ninth.
The Falcons travel to Glenside, Pa., on Friday to play the Knights in the first of a three-game weekend conference series. Game time for that matchup is slated for 3:30 p.m. Messiah returns home to play the Knights in a Saturday double-header at Starry Field on April 21, with the first of the two contests set to begin at 12:00 p.m.
“It all starts on Friday,” DeRiggs said. “We have to go down there to Arcadia, keep swinging the bats we have been swinging them, and set the tone. It gives us a good chance to move up in the standings.”
