GRANTAHAM, Pa. - The Messiah baseball team punched their ticket to the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on Thursday afternoon by sweeping the Hood Blazers in a doubleheader. The Falcons earned victories by scores of 3-1 and 5-1 to earn the fourth seed in next week's MAC Commonwealth Tournament. As a result, the Falcons will host the fifth seed on Tuesday at a time to be determined.
 
Nathan Stein and Josh Monturo both tossed quality outings for the Falcons as the bullpen needed to record just two outs across the doubleheader.
 
In Game Two, Sam Zercher tied the Messiah single season home run record, hitting his 10th homer of the season to right-centerfield to tie the game at 1-1.
 
As a result of earning the fourth seed, Messiah will host either the York Spartans or Widener Pride in the MAC Commonwealth Play-In Game on Tuesday at a time to be determined.
 
Game One – Messiah defeats Hood – 3-1
The Falcons earned a 3-1 victory over the Hood Blazers in Game One of Thursday doubleheader. With the victory, Messiah kept their hopes of a playoff spot alive while also eliminating the Blazers from contention. Nathan Stein tossed 6.1 innings as Dustin Isanogle and Evan Wagaman drove home runs for the Falcons.
 
Hood took a 1-0 lead in the first, taking advantage of an error and a pair of walks to plate a run. After scoreless innings for the Falcons in the first and second, David Martinez ripped a triple to begin the third inning and scored Messiah's first run of the game on a squeeze bunt from Dustin Isanogle to tie things up at 1-1. Later in the frame, Evan Wagaman gave the Falcons the lead with a sacrifice fly, bringing home Joshua Ammons who was hit by a pitch earlier in the stanza.
 
In the fourth, the Blazers loaded the bases with no outs. With the Falcons clinging to a one-run lead, Stein then struck out the next batter looked and got a fly ball to medium depth right field. The Blazers tested the arm of Evan Wagaman, who tossed a two-hop throw to Isanogle at the dish. Isanogle applied the tag and the Falcons got out of the frame without a Hood run crossing the plate.
 
Messiah added an insurance run in the fifth on a pair of throwing errors by the Blazers. With two outs, Isanogle reached on a throwing error by the pitcher. After the Falcons' catcher stole second, Sam Zercher reached on a throwing error by the third baseman. The poor throw allowed Isanogle to race around third and evade the tag at the plate for a 3-1 Messiah lead.
 
After a scoreless sixth, Hood hit a leadoff double in the seventh, but Noah Barrall was called upon for the final two outs and slammed the door giving Messiah the 3-1 victory.
 
Game Two – Messiah defeats Hood 5-1
The Blazers scored in the opening frame of Game Two as well, taking advantage of a pair of Messiah errors and a walk to load the bases a sacrifice fly brought home the run without the use of a base hit and the Falcons trailed 1-0 early.
 
The game stood 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth when Sam Zercher launched his 10th home run of the season to begin the inning. Not only did the big fly tie the game, but it also tied the Messiah single-season home run record set by Craig Mease in 2008 and tied by Kasey Caras in 2021. As he generally does, Zercher left the yard the opposite way, clearing the right-centerfield wall to level the score at 1-1.
 
After an Evan Wagaman walk and an Isaiah Parido single to right field, Messiah covered the corners with no outs. Parido stole second and Ryan Friend lined a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Wagaman. Josh Jacob also picked up a sacrifice fly to right field, bringing home Parido after a wild pitch put him on third. In total, the Falcons scored three runs in the frame and took a 3-1 lead into the fifth.
 
The Falcons added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth with another sacrifice fly by Dustin Isanogle to deep left and a single up the middle by Josh Jacob.
 
While the Falcons were adding runs, their starter Josh Monturo was mowing down the Blazers line-up. After the opening frame when Hood scored an unearned run without a hit, Monturo hung six-straight zeros on the board. He finished the seven-inning complete game with three hits, two walk, three strikeouts, and the unearned run while tossing just 88 pitches.
 
What's Up Next
With the victory, Messiah moves to 14-10 in the conference and punches their ticket to the MAC Commonwealth Tournament that begins with the Play-In Game next Tuesday. By clinching the four seed, Messiah will host that Play-In Game at a time to be determined.