YORK, Pa. – The first four hitters in the Falcons' order all hit homers on Sunday afternoon as the Messiah baseball team claimed an 11-5 victory over the York Spartans. With the victory, the Falcons clinched the series against the Spartans by winning two out of the three this weekend and moved to 13-2 in the conference this season.
Messiah pitchers issued 10 walks and hit half a dozen York batters, but they allowed just seven hits as they wiggled out of jams all afternoon long. The Spartans stranded a total of 20 batters on the bases while the Falcons took advantage of their chances with key hits to score 11 runs on the afternoon.
The Falcons now hold a 24-7 overall record and will be back in action on Tuesday when they host the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen at 3:30 p.m. for a non-conference game.
How It Happened
The Spartans were first on the board in the bottom of the first, scoring without a hit in the inning. The run scored on a bases loaded walk, but the Falcon limited the damage and trailed by just one heading to the top of the third.
Nick Moyer led off the third by getting hit by a pitch.
Isaiah Parido followed with a single up the middle before
Drew Hurst launched a three-run homer to right field for his third big fly of the season. The homer gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead.
Messiah added three more runs in the fourth with a two-out rally. After two quick outs, Hurst started the rally with a single to right field.
Joshua Ammons hammered a two-run homer to left field to push the Falcons lead to 5-1.
Evan Wagaman made it back-to-back tanks with a opposite-field home run to right-center field, chasing the Spartans starter from the game with the Falcons up 6-1.
York trimmed the lead to 6-3 with single runs in the fourth and fifth, but Messiah added an insurance run in the seventh on a
Dustin Isanogle sacrifice fly. Another Messiah run came in the eighth on an
Isaiah Parido solo home run to left center. Parido's seventh homer of the season put the Flcons up 8-3 in the top of the eighth inning.
A two-out, two-run double from York's Lucas Pendergast in the bottom of the eighth cut the Falcons' lead to three at 8-5, but a three-run top of the ninth for the Falcons put the game out of reach. In the final frame,
Dylan Beard picked up an RBI double and
Dustin Isanogle drove home a run on a fielder's choice. Messiah's 11th run of the day came on a first and third play that allowed Isanogle to cross the plate.
In the end, the Falcons earned the 11-5 victory and claimed the final two games of their three-game series with the Spartans.
Josh Nielsen earned the win, tossing 5.1 innings in relief. Nielsen struck out six batters while allowing two runs (both unearned) on four hits, six walks, and a pair of hit by pitches.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Tuesday when they host the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen for a non-conference game that is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Next weekend, the Falcons take on the Stevenson Mustangs in their next conference series with a road game on Friday and a doubleheader in Grantham on Saturday.
