CHESTER, Pa. – Playing in a key MAC Commonwealth doubleheader against the Widener Pride, the Messiah baseball team earned an important 11-6 victory over the Pride in Game One of their twin-bill. Heading to the eighth, the Falcons trailed Widener 6-5, but scored five in the eighth and one in the ninth to earn a five-run victory.
The Pride earned a 10-7 victory in Game Two, scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth in a game that was cut a frame short due to darkness. Messiah will be back in action on Tuesday when they host hte York Spartans at 3:30 p.m. in a MAC Commonwealth contest.
With the split, Messiah remains at the top of the conference standings in a three-way tie with the Alvernia Golden Wolves and Lebanon Valley Dutchmen. All three teams have records of 7-3 after five conference series. The Falcons will be back in acton on Tuesday when they take on the York Spartans at 3:30 p.m. in Grantham.
Game One – Messiah defeats Widener – 11-6
A back-and-forth game from the start, Messiah fell into an early 1-0 hole after a solo home run from the Pride in the bottom of the first. The Falcons quickly tied things up in the second on a passed ball before taking the lead on a sacrifice fly from
Clayton Roberts in the top of the third.
In the fourth,
Joshua Ammons singled to center field to begin the frame and
Evan Wagaman hammered a two-run homer over the blue monster in left field for a 4-1 Messiah lead. The homer was the second of the season for Wagaman.
Widener answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, scoring on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. The Pride did not stop there, adding three runs in the fifth to take the lead back at 5-4. The first two runs came home on a two-run double from Bryce Fremgen to tie the game at 4-4, before taking the lead on a Messiah error at 5-4.
That 5-4 lead remained into the top of the seventh, when the Falcons tied things up on a passed ball. The ball to the backstop allowed
Kasey Caras to scamper home from third, tying the game at 5-5. In the bottom of the frame, Widener took the lead back at 6-5 on a passed ball of their own.
Messiah trailed by one heading to the eighth, but exploded for five runs in the top of the eight, taking advantage of three walks and a pair of Widener errors to take a 10-6 advantage.
Jarrett Gordon tied things up with an RBI single through the left side after a pair of walks to leadoff the inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Widener attempted to throw behind the runner leading off of third, but the throw went into left field and gave Messiah a 7-6 lead with
Joshua Ammons coming home to score the go-ahead run.
Kasey Caras then drove a two-run single through the right side to give Messiah a cushion at 9-6. Two batters later,
Clayton Roberts knocked an infield single to third base that allowed Caras to score and Messiah took a 10-6 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Widener threatened by loading the bases in the bottom of the eighth on a single and a pair of walks with one away. Messiah then brought in
Nathan Stein to try and preserve the lead. Stein got a strikeout and a ground ball to short stop for
Jarrett Gordon, who made a diving stop and tossed to second base for the final out of the inning, keeping it a 10-6 lead heading to the ninth.
Once in the ninth, Messiah added another run thanks to the speed of
Evan Wagaman. After being hit by a pitch, Wagaman proceeded to steal second and third on back-to-back pitches and then came around to score on an RBI single by
Jarrett Gordon to short.
Messiah allowed the first two runners in the bottom of the ninth to reach, but a pop up and a double play ended the game and gave Messiah the victory.
Game Two - Widener defeats Messiah 10-7
Messiah fell 10-7 to Widener in Game Two to split the doubleheader on Saturday. Widener would take numerous leads in Game Two with the Falcons answering throughout until Widener put three on the board in the bottom of the eighth to take a 10-7 lead before the game was called due to lighting.
Joshua Ammons finished Game Two with two RBI to lead the Falcons in the second half of the twin-bill.
Widener got on the board first in the opening frame taking a 2-0 lead before Messiah cut that lead in half with a
Reed Wagner bases loaded walk in the top of the second. Widener tacked on another run in the bottom of the third to build a 3-1 advantage, but Messiah answered in the fourth with a run-scoring passed ball and a
Kasey Caras RBI single that brought home
Clayton Roberts. The two runs tied things up at 3-3, but Widener retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning and added more runs in the fifth, snagging a 6-3 lead as the game headed to the sixth. The teams traded runs in the sixth to make the game 7-4 in favor of Widener going into the seventh inning.
After a scoreless seventh, Messiah tacked on three runs to tie the game at 7-7 in the top of the eighth.
Sam Zercher singled to bring in a run while Ammons had a single that brought in two runs, leveling the score at 7-7. In the bottom half of the inning, Widener had an RBI single of their own, in addition to a 2-run home run off the bat of Justin Costanzo, his second of the game, to make the game 10-7.
The game was called due to lightning after eight innings of play, giving Widener the 10-7 win.
With the split, Messiah remains at the top of the MAC Commonwealth standings with a 7-3 conference record, tied with the Alvernia Golden Wolves and Lebanon Valley Dutchmen.
What's Up Next
The Falcons return home for another conference showdown, this time against the York Spartans. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on April 19. The Falcons and Spartans will conclude that two-game series on Friday with a game at York.
