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Frederick, MD – With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the ninth
Josh Hayner scampered home on a wild pitch to break a 4-4 tie with Hood College. Just moments later
Kyle Schoen delivered a single to right field that scored two more and game Messiah a 7-4 victory over Hood in the opening game of a key, three-game MAC Commonwealth series against the Blazers.
Messiah opened the scoring in the top of the first by jumping all over Blazer starter, Jake Franke. The Falcons knocked four singles in the inning; including RBI single by
Joseph Saufley and
Josh Good to score three runs and take an early 3-0 lead.
After a quiet bottom half of the first, the Falcons were right back at it with a one-out double by
Ben Sollenberger. Saufley later walked but a groundout ended the frame stranding Sollenberger and Saufley on the pads.
The Blazers got a run back in the second with a sacrifice fly to center. In the third a two-out rally for the Blazers loaded the bases, but Messiah starter,
Zach Luman, escaped a jam with a three-pitch strikeout look to avoid any damage.
Hood took advantage of a Messiah error in the fourth and scored another run, cutting the Falcons' lead to 3-2. The Falcons came right back expanding their lead to 4-2 in the top of the fifth with an RBI-single by
Josh Good up the middle. Good's second RBI of the game brought
Ben Wilson, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, into score.
The Falcons and Hood traded zeroes with both starters worked into the seventh inning. Luman went 6.1 innings for Messiah allowing 10 hits and four runs (two earned) while striking out five. For Hood, Franke settled down after allowing three first inning runs. He worked 6.2 innings allowing four runs (all earned) on eight hits.
In the seventh, Hood put two runners on with a pair of singles before Luman was lifted for
Drew Betz. Betz allowed the two inherited runners to score but got a strikeout with two runners on base as
Jon Mullin picked off the runner at third to end the frame.
After perfect eighth innings by both team's relievers, Messiah led off the ninth with a
Josh Hayner double to right center. Hayner advanced to third before a pair of walks loaded the bases with one away. A strikeout put the pressure on
Kyle Schoen to deliver with two away and the bases juiced. The pressure was removed when a wild pitch allowed Hayner to come home and give Messiah the 5-4 lead. Schoen then added insurance with a single to right that scored two more and gave Messiah some breathing room for the bottom of the frame.
With a 7-4 lead,
Drew Betz walked the first Hood batter in the ninth before inducing a fly out to left and back-to-back strike outs swinging to complete the game and give Messiah the 7-4 victory.
The win moves Messiah to 13-16 overall and 7-6 in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons and Blazers will square off tomorrow afternoon in a double-dip beginning at 12:00 p.m. in Grantham.
