BALTIMORE, Md. – The Messiah baseball teal fought valiantly with the No. 11 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays on Tuesday evening, eventually falling by an 11-9 final in Baltimore. After a lead-off home run for the Blue Jays, Messiah battled back, taking leads of 3-1 and 6-5 in the second and fifth innings, respectively.
After Johns Hopkins took a 9-6 lead heading into the seventh inning, Messiah once again showed their fight, scoring three runs to tie things up at 9-9.
While Johns Hopkins prevailed, thanks with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, Messiah showed they can go toe-to-toe with some of the top teams in the country.
Messiah collected 12 hits in the game with
Sam Zercher and
Joshua Ammons each knocking a home run.
How It Happened
Johns Hopkins started Tuesday's game with a solo home run by Matthew Cooper, the first of two homers from Cooper on the day. Despite that solo homer, Messiah took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second thanks to three second-inning runs. A leadoff walk, a single, and a pair of stolen bases put two in scoring position for the Falcons for
Evan Wagaman, who lined a ground-rule double to left center. Two batters later
Jarrett Gordon squeezed home Wagaman and Messiah led 3-1.
As was the trend in the contest, every time Messiah took a lead or tied the game, the Blue Jays quickly responded. In the bottom of the second it was three runs of their own on four hits to take the lead back at 4-3.
After Johns Hopkins added one to their lead in the third, the Falcons scored three more times in the top of the fifth. Back-to-back doubles from
Dylan Beard and Gordon made it a 5-4 game and later in the frame,
Sam Zercher clobbered a two-run homer to left center that gave Messiah a 6-5 lead. The inning could have been even bigger, but the Falcons had two would-be base stealers thrown out attempting to swipe bags.
Johns Hopkins connected on a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead back and then added two more in the sixth on Matthew Cooper's second homer of the game. Cooper's two-run shot gave Johns Hopkins a 9-6 lead as the game turned to the seventh.
Gordon led off the frame with a single up the middle and
Reed Wagner followed with a double to put two in scoring position with no outs in the seventh. A wild pitch scored Gordon and a sacrifice fly from
Sam Zercher pulled Messiah within one at 9-8. With two outs,
Joshua Ammons then deposited a solo home run over the left-field wall to tie the game up at 9-9.
But just as they had done earlier in the game, Johns Hopkins responded with two runs on three hits and a Messiah error to jump in front 11-9. While the Falcons put two runners on in the ninth, they were unable to complete the two-out rally and fell by the 11-9 final.
Messiah's nine runs scored are tied for the most any team has scored against the Blue Jays this season, more than defending National Champion Salisbury scored in a 3-0 victory over Johns Hopkins.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action this weekend when they take on Nichols College on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in their Home Opener at the Starry Baseball Field.
