Box Score
Glenside, PA - The Messiah Falcons (13-20, 6-7 CC) routed the Arcadia Knights (15-8, 5-8) on Friday afternoon, riding another phenomenal offensive performance to a 13-4 win in the first of a three-game conference series. Sophomore
Jon Lapp threw seven shutout innings and classmate
Jacob Sprengle collected four hits – including three doubles.
As has become the norm for Messiah, the offense scored early and often, putting up four runs in the first inning and three more in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead through just two frames. The four-spot in the first inning gives the Falcons five straight games with multiple first-inning runs; during that span, Messiah has scored 20 times in the initial frame.
It was also the fifth straight game the Falcons knocked the opposing starting pitcher out of the game before the end of the third inning; in today's contest, Knights Adam Planamento lasted just 1.1 innings, surrendering seven runs.
“Any time that you get off to such a great start on offense, it really takes the pressure off both the pitcher and the defense,” Messiah head coach Steve DeRiggs said. “It relaxes the team and they've just been swinging so well recently.”
Senior
Sam Tajiri began the game with a walk and classmates
John Brubaker and
Ryan Brown followed with singles to add to Messiah's first-inning offensive onslaughts that included eight runs against Susquehanna and four in today's contest.
Messiah picked up three more runs in the second inning with RBIs by Brown, junior
Paul Mellinger, and senior
Wes Hollenbach.
The Falcons put the game away with five additional runs in the fifth inning to make it a 12-0 game: This one began with consecutive doubles by freshman
Derek Drake and Sprengle, giving Messiah 11 hits in its first five innings.
Meanwhile, Lapp (1-4) was his usual spectacular self on the mound, as last year's Rookie of the Year winner pitched seven scoreless frames, allowing just one walk while striking out six. He didn't give up any extra base hits and picked up the win for the day.
“Lapp was exceptional in his start,” DeRiggs said. “He has good feel, excellent velocity, and he controlled the game. We were very pleased with him, and his performance was huge for us in the first game of the series. He set the tempo, and he has really come up big for us recently.”
Lapp gave way to sophomore
Colby Helgerson and senior
Davin Okerblom, who each pitched an inning on the mound.
Sprengle finished the day as the team leader with four hits, including three doubles. Brubaker collected three hits and two walks, and scored three runs. Tajiri reached base three times and scored three times; Brown walked twice, recorded two hits, scored twice, and drove in two runs; and Drake went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Messiah concludes its weekend conference series with the Knights on Saturday. Game time has been moved up one hour to 11:00 a.m.
