LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – On Friday afternoon, the Messiah baseball team began a three-game series with the Covenant Scots by dropping Game One by a 6-2 final. Messiah allowed an early run, but rallied with single runs in both the third and fifth innings to take a 2-1 lead. The Scots responded by plating five runs across the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to earn a 6-2 victory.
Messiah was held to just three hits in the contest with
Isaiah Parido and
Jarrett Gordon accounting for the two RBI. Parido ripped a two-out RBI double in the third and Gordon lifted a sacrifice fly in the fifth to account for the Falcons two runs.
Messiah and Covenant will wrap up their three-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m. in Georgia.
How It Happened
The Scots got on the board in the bottom of the first with three singles producing a run. Messiah limited the damage, cutting down a runner on the plate after back-to-back singles started the frame for the Scots.
In the third, Messiah leveled the game with a two-out rally that began with a hit by pitch.
Jarrett Gordon got things started, by taking the hard 90 with a hit by pitch.
Isaiah Parido then ripped a double to left center field that brought Gordon home and tied the game at 1-1.
Two frames later, the Falcons would strike again. It was another hit by pitch that started a rally for Messiah. This time it was
David Martinez reaching on the hit by pitch.
Nick Moyer then knocked a ball down the third-base line that the third baseman attempted to backhand, but it trickled away allowing the Falcons to put two runners in scoring position. Jarret Gordon chased Martinez home from third with a sacrifice fly to right field to give Messiah the lead at 2-1.
While Messiah had taken the lead, starting pitcher
Jason Long has settled into the game after a rocky first couple of batters. Long had allowed singles to the first two batters of the game, but had limited the damage to one run in the frame. Over the next four frames, Long had allowed just one hit and hung four-straight zeros on the board to help Messiah take a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Scots knocked a leadoff, solo home run to left centerfield to tie the game at 2-2. After an infield single and a double-play ball, the Scots combined a double with a single to take the lead back at 3-2. Long finished the game with a final line of six innings pitched with three earned runs scoring on eight hits.
A two-run single in the bottom of the seventh bumped the Scots lead to three and an insurance run in the eighth gave the Scots the victory at 6-2.
What's Up Next
The Falcons and Scots complete their series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon beginning at 3:00 p.m. in Lookout Mountain, Ga.
