Box Score
Washington, DC – One day after seeing their Wednesday match-up with Johns Hopkins postponed because of rain, the Falcons flew further south in hopes of picking up their first win on the season. Playing at Catholic University in the nation's capital, the weather cooperated but their bats did not, as Messiah fell 6-0 to drop to 0-3 on the season.
Russell Woleslagel started for the Falcons and completed a quick, uneventful top of the first inning. But in the bottom of the second, things unraveled quickly. He started the inning with a hit-by-pitch, walk, and another hit-by-pitch to load the bases with zero outs. Mike McFarland followed with an RBI single for the game's first run.
Woleslagel then recorded a strikeout, but walked Dan Hinchcliff to force in another run. With the bases still loaded and only one out, he almost escaped further damage by inducing a comebacker from Bredan Breslin. Woleslagel's throw to shortshop
Casey Ebersole forced the runner at second base, but Ebersole's relay to first went awry.
Three runs scored on the play, the last two of which were unearned. The inning finished with Messiah in a 5-0 hole, as Woleslagel did not return for the third inning after the long second.
At the plate, Messiah was unable to generate much against Cardinals' starter Robin Mowatt. He put the Falcons down 1-2-3 in the first and second innings, and allowed just a single two-out hit in each of the third and fourth innings.
In the fifth inning, Messiah finally put together a rally as
Jon Heisey (single) and
David Sletta (walk) reached base to start the frame. Mowatt settled down, however, and retired three straight Falcons—two by called strikeouts—to get of trouble.
Messiah had two runners on base only one other time, as
Zach Brubaker's leadoff single in the eighth inning was soon backed up by a
Jon Lapp's one-out walk. But
Derek Drake followed Lapp with a double-play groundout to second base diffusing another threat by the Falcons.
As the Falcons were struggling to put hits and walks together, their bullpen came the game reasonably close.
Tyler Moody provided a big lift in relief of Woleslagel, pitching four scoreless innings and allowing just three hits against five strikeouts. It was a big step forward in his young career after he entered the game with four earned runs allowed over just 1.1 innings pitched.
Adam Marshall and
Steven Ridings each pitched a an inning after Moody, with the Cardinals scoring an unearned run in the eighth inning to complete the scoring.
In their final at-bat,
Jeremiah Eaton collected a pinch-hit walk with two outs before
Isaiah Shipman grounded out to end the game.
Messiah collected five hits, though three of them came with two outs and no one on base. Sprengle and Brubaker each had two hits, with one of Sprengle's knocks being a double.
The win moved Catholic to 5-0 this season, with Messiah falling to 0-3. Last season, Messiah also started 0-3 before picking up their first win against Johns Hopkins University.
The Falcons will attempt to repeat history on Friday when they travel to Johns Hopkins for a game at 2:30 p.m.
