Aquadilla, PR - The Messiah baseball team fell to the Misericordia Cougars 9-6 in their opening game of the Clemente Cup on Sunday night. The Cougars were led by junior outfield Jeremy DeCotiis who drove in six runs on four hits in the contest.
 
The Falcons started the scoring with an RBI single by Colin Fry in the bottom of the first that brought home Adam Janney.
 
The Cougars scored a single run in the third to tie the game at 1-1 before scoring two more in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. All three of Misericordia's runs in the third and fifth were driven in by DeCotiis.
 
Steven Ridings started for Messiah and pitched well, throwing into the seventh inning before exiting with Messiah trailing 3-1. Ridings left with two runners on and two outs, but Messiah could not get out of the inning with the Cougars expanded their lead on a two-run single by DeCotiis.
 
Messiah closed the gap to 5-2 with a sacrifice fly by AJ Steindel in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Drew Betz came on and pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Messiah before the Cougars used two walks and a single to load the bases for DeCotiis. Much like he had all game long, DeCotiis delivered the big blow, a three-run triple that cleared the bases. An RBI double drove home DeCotiis and made the game 9-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
 
The Falcons made a game of it, scoring four runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. A two-run single by Austin Pletcher and a two-run double by Josh Hayner brought home the runs in the ninth, but it was too little too late as the Cougars came away with the 9-6 victory.
 
Colin Fry was a key cog for the Falcons' offense, going 4-4 on the day with a pair of doubles. He was the lone Falcon with multiple hits. As mentioned, Jeremy DeCotiis had a career game for Misericordia, driving in six runs while going 4-5 at the plate.
 
Messiah will continue their Spring Break trip when they play SUNY Cortland on Monday night at 7:00 p.m.