GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah baseball team split a pair of games Saturday afternoon against the visiting Alvernia University Golden Wolves. The two teams played to a 3-3 tie after the scheduled seven innings in game one, after a Grant Hackett two RBI single sent the game into extra innings. After a scoreless eighth, Alvernia found a Billy Coleman single up the middle to give them a 4-3 lead to which they would hold onto in the bottom of the ninth to take game one. Coleman finished game one with two RBI's.
The Falcons jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game two, with two RBI's coming from
Kasey Caras in the form of a double and homerun. The Golden Wolves wouldn't go down quietly though, grabbing a run in the top of the sixth before finding another run in the seventh to make it interesting.
Zak Muffitt shut the door for Messiah though, giving them their second victory of the season. The Falcons will see these very same Golden Wolves tomorrow afternoon in Reading, with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
Game One
After Alvernia took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second, the Falcons came right back in the bottom half with the first four batters finding their way on base.
Derek Freed and
Joshua Ammons laced a pair of singles to score two and put Messiah up 2-1. This lead increased to 3-1 after
Jarod Bingaman roped a two out double in the bottom of the fourth.
The Golden Wolves loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, before a Grant Hackett pinch hit two RBI single tied the game up at 3-3. As mentioned, Billy Coleman had the game-winning RBI in the top of the ninth on a single to make it 4-3 before Alvernia closed the door on Messiah in the bottom of the inning to take game one.
Game Two
Messiah grabbed a 1-0 lead in game two on an error that allowed
Reed Wagner to score with two outs in the bottom of the second and make it 1-0. They scored three runs in the bottom of the third on a Caras double and
Billy Davis SAC fly before
Joshua Ammons scored on an error to make it 4-0. Caras hit his third homer of the season to right center field in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-0 before Alvernia tried to come back in the final innings. Despite a few late runs, Messiah cracked the code and took down the Golden Wolves 5-2 to move to 2-5 on the season.
The Falcons used a strong pitching performance from senior
Luke Luckenbaugh, who threw five scoreless innings to help gather the large lead in game two. Messiah didn't allow a base hit until the top of the sixth inning as Luckenbaugh moves to 1-1 on the season.
What's Up Next
As mentioned, these two teams will go at it tomorrow afternoon at Alvernia, with first pitch of game one slated for noon.
