HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Messiah baseball team scored early and added some insurance runs late to claim a 12-7 victory over the Eastern Mennonite Royals on Tuesday afternoon. The Falcons scored two runs in the top of the first and eventually held a 7-5 by the end of the fifth.
In the top of the eighth,
Dustin Isanogle collected his fourth hit of the afternoon, driving home two runs with two outs to give the Falcons a little breathing room. Then in the ninth, Messiah added three more runs with a two-run
Joshua Ammons single and an RBI single from
Clayton Roberts.
As mentioned,
Dustin Isanogle collected four hits in the contest as did
Kasey Caras. The duo accounted for eight of Messiah's 16 base hits on the afternoon.
Sam Zercher swatted a two-run homer in the top of the first to get the Falcons on the board and
Josh Monturo earned the victory on the hill. Monturo tossed six innings, allowing four earned runs while allowing seven hits and striking out three.
Messiah will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Randolph-Macon to take on the Yellow Jackets in a three-game series against a strong opponent. Game One of the series is scheduled for Friday at 3:00 p.m. in Ashland, Va. A doubleheader will follow on Saturday beginning at 12:00 p.m.
How It Happened
The Falcons jumped out to a quick lead thanks to back-to-back extra base hits from
Kasey Caras and Sam Zecher. With one away, Caras ripped a double and then Zecher followed up with a two-run blast to put the Falcons up 2-0.
Eastern Mennonite got one run back in the bottom of the first and after a quiet second, Messiah bumped their lead to 3-1 on a bases loaded walk by
Dylan Beard. The Royals responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to tie things up at 3-3 after three complete innings.
In the fourth, Messiah set the table with consecutive singles from
Reed Wagner and Caras. Later in the frame, Messiah scored on a wild pitch and an RBI ground out from
Joshua Ammons to take a 5-3 lead.
After the Royals scored once in the fourth, the Falcons added two more in the fifth with Wagner and Caras driving in runs. The Royals pulled within two at 7-5 after an RBI single in the seventh, but Messiah added five insurance runs across the eighth and ninth innings to put Tuesday's game away.
With the bases loaded with two away,
Dustin Isanogle ripped a two-run single up the middle to bring home two more runs, giving Messiah a 9-5 cushion. Once again in the ninth the Falcons tacked on runs. Like Isanogle the inning prior,
Joshua Ammons knocked a two-run single to center.
Clayton Roberts followed with a single to make it an even dozen for the Falcons.
Despite two runs from the Royals in the bottom of the ninth, Messiah held on for the 12-7 victory.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will head south for the weekend to take on the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets for a three-game series. The Falcons and Yellow Jackets will play game one on Friday afternoon and follow with a doubleheader on Saturday before heading to Florida for spring break.
