CARLISLE, Pa. - Messiah baseball tallied runs in six of the eight innings played on Wednesday night at Dickinson College as the Falcons went on to win by a final score of 19-3.
Messiah improves to 6-13 on the season, while Dickinson falls to 6-16 on the year.
Despite scoring 19 runs, the Falcons only recorded 15 hits but were buoyed by the 12 walks given up by Red Devil pitching. Dickinson encountered many struggles on the mound, as the home team sent in 10 different pitchers before the game was called after the eighth inning. Eight different Falcons registered a hit, with four notching multiple in the game.
Josh Hayner (3-4, HR),
Chris LaRose, and
Dan Wiederrecht (3-6) all recorded four RBI games in the winning effort.
Glenn Petraitis made the start on the mound for the Falcons and was effective, earning the win after pitching four innings and giving up five hits, three runs (two earned), and two walks while striking out three.
Carson Spangler,
Jordan Nichols,
Quinton Kuntz, and
Ben Stewart each threw one scoreless inning of relief to help hold down the Red Devils and ensure the easy win for Messiah.
After a scoreless first inning, the Falcons got on the board in the top of the second as
Trey Pritchard doubled to bring home Wiederrecht and put Messiah up 1-0. After Dickinson tied it up in the bottom of the inning on a fielder's choice, the floodgates opened for Messiah as they received back-to-back bases-loaded walks followed by a Wiederrecht 2-RBI single to give the visitors a 5-1 lead after three innings of play.
The Falcons added three more in the top of the fourth to go up 8-1, but Dickinson showed some signs of life in the bottom of the inning and cut the deficit to 8-3.
However, that was as close as the Red Devils would come throughout the rest of the game, as Messiah scored four runs in the fifth, two in the seventh, and five in the eighth while blanking Dickinson to earn the 19-5 victory. Of note during that streak of 11 unanswered runs, LaRose had a 2-RBI single,
Nick Godwin an RBI double,
Mark Leach an RBI single, and
Josh Hayner a two-run home run - his first of the season and of his collegiate career.
The 19 runs scored by the Falcons is the most by the program since April 18, 2012 when Messiah defeated Susquehanna University 20-8.
Messiah will look to carry the momentum back into conference play as they will start a three-game set with Stevenson University on Friday on Starry Field. First pitch of Friday's game is set for 3:30 p.m.
