READING, Pa. – With a pair of victories over the Albright Lions on Sunday afternoon, the Messiah baseball team takes the top spot in the early season MAC Commonwealth standings with a 5-1 record. The Falcons earned 12-1 and 8-2 victories over the Lions to complete the sweep of Albright on the weekend. Overall, the Falcons improve to 14-6 on the season, their best start to a season since the 2008 year when they began the year 20-8.
The Falcons will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they host Penn State Altoona at 3:30 p.m. on the Starry Baseball Field.
Game One – Messiah defeats Albright – 12-1
After a pair of scoreless innings to start Game One of their doubleheader with the Lions, Messiah broke through in the top of the third with an
Evan Wagaman RBI single to left field. Albright got the run back with an RBI single of their own in the bottom of the frame, but the Falcons took the lead right back with a two-out single from
Nick Moyer.
Heading to the fifth inning of a seven-inning game, Messiah held a 2-1 lead, but hung a four-spot on the board in the fifth and added six more in the sixth to raise their lead to 12-1.
Messiah's fifth-inning merry-go-round started with two quick outs with a fly out and a strike out.
Dylan Beard reached on an error to start the rally and four-straight singles followed, allowing the Falcons to bring home four runs in the frame.
Drew Hurst,
Dustin Isanogle,
Luke Ott, and
David Martinez collected the four hits as Messiah took a 6-1 lead.
After starter,
Nathan Stein put another zero on the board, the Falcons went right back to work with six runs on two hits in the sixth inning. Messiah took advantage of three hit by pitches and a pair of walks in the inning.
Luke Ott delivered the bit hit, driving a bases loaded triple to right center, extending Messiah's lead to 11-1 at the time. After an error, Ott was able to trot home and make it a 12-1 lead.
On the mound,
Nathan Stein was his consistent self, tossing six innings of one-run ball while allowing four hits, two walks, and strikeout eight batters.
Dominic Pizzuti tossed a scoreless seventh inning to close out the 12-1 Messiah victory.
Game Two – Messiah defeats Albright – 8-2
In Game Two, Messiah once again got on the board first in the top of the third. This time,
Dylan Beard reached on an infield single to chase
Nick Moyer home. Like the first game of the day, Albright quickly responded with a run, scoring in the bottom of the fourth.
The game remained level at 1-1 until
Evan Wagaman blasted his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field that gave the Falcons a 2-1 in the top of the sixth.
Albright once again tied things up with a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but
Noah Barrall limited the damage and the game remained tied 2-2 heading to the eighth.
The Falcons used six late runs to pull away with the series finale. Messiah plated four runs in the eighth inning on four hits, using RBI doubles from
Luke Ott and
Nick Moyer as well as an RBI single from
Danny Morales and a squeeze bunt from
Dustin Isanogle.
Messiah added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth when
Drew Hurst launched a two-run homer to center field, pushing Messiah's lead to 8-2.
Noah Barrall earned the win in relief, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings while striking out three.
Julian Butler closed things out by pitching the bottom of the ninth, striking out two.
Josh Nielsen got the start for the Falcons, tossing 6.1 quality innings allowing just two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks. Nielsen struck out three batters across his six-plus innings.
What's Up Next
The Falcons improve to 5-1 in the conference after this weekend's three-game sweep. They currently stand on top of the MAC Commonwealth and will be back in action for a non-conference game against Penn State Altoona on Monday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Messiah's next conference series will begin on Thursday against the Eastern Eagles on the road at 3:30 p.m.
