GRANTHAM, Pa. – Messiah baseball overcame temperatures dipping into the 30s to shut out Gettysburg College 9-0 in the 2018 home opener on Thursday afternoon.
 
With the win, Messiah improves to 3-2 on the year while Gettysburg falls to 0-3.
 
Neither team was able to put solid contact on ball for most of the game, but Messiah took advantage of five Bullet errors to build a big lead. Falcon pitching was phenomenal, giving up just three hits and striking out five in eight innings of work.
 
Messiah was led offensively by Trent Culver's two hits and two runs scored, while Nick Godwin notched a big two-RBI single to break the game open in the sixth. Jordan Nichols started on the bump for the Falcons and went three innings without giving up a hit and striking out three. Ben Stewart replaced him for the fourth and fifth innings, hurling two scoreless frames to earn his first collegiate win. The combination of Chase Peiffer, Matt Wright, Ethan Hess, and Drew Betz combined to throw the final four innings, only allowing three hits.
 
The victory for the Falcons avenges at 10-5 loss at the hands of the Bullets last year during Spring Break action down in Florida, which was surely much warmer than today's contest.
 
Messiah's first scoring chance came in the bottom of the third, as Austin Mellinger blooped a single into right field and advanced to second on a bobble by the right fielder. Trey Pritchard followed by hitting a soft grounder to Bullet pitcher Will Wortmann, but the throw to the bag was in the dirt and got past the first baseman, allowing Mellinger to score and Pritchard to hustle down to second. Ben Wilson also knocked a dribbler back to the mound, and Wortmann once again struggled fielding his position, throwing wide of third this time and allowing Pritchard to score to make it 2-0 in favor of the Falcons.
 
That lead held until the bottom of the sixth, when Trent Culver led off the frame with a walk and then stole second and advanced to third on an error by the shortstop. Colin Fry walked to put runners on the corners with no outs for Josh Hayner, who hit a comebacker to the mound that was once again thrown out of reach of the Gettysburg infielder trying to catch the toss, allowing Culver to score and Fry and Hayner to both advance safely. After Dan Wiederrecht sacrificed Culver and Fry to third and second, respectively, Nick Godwin stepped up with a sharp single up the middle to score a pair of runs and put Messiah up 5-0. The Falcons were not done, though, as later in the inning Sam Stewart ripped an RBI double down the left field line to increase the lead to six.
 
Messiah added two more runs in the seventh another in the eighth to complete the 9-0 win that is their largest margin of victory in a shutout since an 11-0 rout of Hood College on Apr. 16, 2016.
 
The Falcons won't have to worry at all about cold weather for their next five games, as they depart next week for Port St. Lucie, Fla. where they will face Scranton, Cairn, and play a three-game series against conference opponent Hood.