FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – On Sunday afternoon, the Messiah baseball team wrapped up their weekend in North Carolina with a 12-9 setback against the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins. The Falcons took an early 4-1 lead, but were unable to hold on as the Marlins scored 11 runs across the final three frames.
The loss moves Messiah to 1-2 on the young season and the Falcons will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Sewanee, Tenn. For a doubleheader against Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday and a game against Sewanee on Sunday.
How It Happened
Playing as the home team in the neutral site game, Messiah struck with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. After a one-out double by
Isaiah Parido,
Joshua Ammons drove in Messiah's first run with a single up the middle. Later in the frame,
Evan Wagaman drove home Ammons with a sac fly to the second baseman, giving Messiah a 2-0 lead.
The Marlins got one back in the second with an RBI single, scoring an unearned run. Messiah added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff homer from
Sam Zercher to put the Falcons up 3-1.
In the sixth,
Evan Wagaman chased home
Isaiah Parido, who led off the frame with a bunt single, with a double to left field. The RBI double gave Messiah a 4-1 lead.
That lead evaporated in the top of the seventh when the Marlins scored three unearned runs to tie the game at 4-4. The Falcons took the lead back in the bottom of the stanza with a
Joshua Ammons RBI single and a bases loaded walk to
Evan Wagaman. After Messiah took a 6-4 lead, the Marlins scored three times in the eighth to take the lead back at 7-6. Virginia Wesleyan took advantage of a hit-by-pitch and a pair of walks to loaded the bases before scoring on a balk and a two-run single to center.
The back-and-forth game continued with
Dustin Isanogle singling home
Thomas Zeigler in the bottom of the frame to knot things at 7-7.
The real trouble for the Falcons came in the top of the ninth. The Marlins scored five runs on four hits, taking advantage of two Messiah errors to take a 12-7 lead. Messiah fought hard in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two runs with a sacrifice fly by
Jake Plummer and an RBI single by
Thomas Zeigler.
Josh Monturo got the start for the Falcons on the bump, tossing 6.2 innings with half a dozen strikeouts and no earned runs allowed (four unearned).
At the dish,
Joshua Ammons went 3-5 with a pair of runs scored and two RBI.
Evan Wagaman drove home a team-high three runs while going 1-4 with a walk and a double.
What's Up Next
Messiah heads to Tennessee next weekend to take on Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday for a doubleheader and Sewanee on Sunday afternoon.
