Box Score
by Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
West Lawn, PA - Backed by a dominating performance on the mound from sophomore
Jon Lapp, the Messiah Falcons (17-23) rolled to a 4-1 win over the #1 seeded Alvernia Crusaders in the first game of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs. The win keeps the defending champions a perfect 4-0 in conference playoff games under interim head coach Steve DeRiggs, and puts Messiah facing Elizabethtown in tomorrow's winner's bracket contest at 3:00 p.m.
“We played a great all-around game today,” DeRiggs said. “We executed the bunts, ran the ball well, fielded well, and that's what you need when you're playing the No. 1 ranked team. You can't play a 'B' game; you need to give an A effort, and we did that.”
Lapp (4-4) was sensational in his first collegiate playoff start, tossing a complete game, allowing just one unearned run. He let up seven hits and one walk, striking out four batters. It was very reminiscent of the performance from
Travis Thome in last year's first round playoff game, as both pitchers went the distance for Messiah.
“
Jon Lapp's effort cannot be overstated,” DeRiggs said. “He pitched a complete game for us, didn't give up any earned runs, and he beat the #1 seed. That was a much-needed shot in the arm that helped to save our pitchers.”
Most impressive about Lapp's performance was that he received little to no offensive support early on; the Messiah Falcons didn't put a base runner on until the fourth inning and it wasn't until the top of the sixth that the Falcons finally broke through with a run, scoring four times on a plethora of walks, a sacrifice bunt, and a clutch two-out hit by freshman
Zach Brubaker.
Senior
Sam Tajiri started the rally with a walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by classmate
John Brubaker, and
Wes Hollenbach and
Ryan Brown loaded the bases with walks. Freshman
Derek Drake—one of
four Messiah players named to the All-Commonwealth team this week— beat out an infield single to plate the Falcons with the game's first run, and sophomore
Jacob Sprengle worked a seven-pitch walk with one out to make it a 2-0 game.
Zach Brubaker then followed with a single through the right side of the infield to make it a 4-0 Messiah game.
The Crusaders picked up an unearned run in the seventh inning off Lapp, but couldn't muster another run in the eighth or ninth. Lapp – who leads the Falcons with four wins from the pitching mound this season – caught the final pop up of the game to put the game in the win column.
Brown led the offense with a three-hit day, drawing a walk as well, while Drake, Sprengle, and Z. Brubaker accounted for the RBIs in the game. Messiah's clutch hitting made the difference in the game, as three of the team's four runs were scored with two outs.
Messiah plays visitor to #3 Elizabethtown in tomorrow's matchup, with the winner heading to Saturday's championship game. The loser will play the winner of Friday morning's Alvernia-LVC matchup at 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening.
