GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah baseball team earned their 28th victory of the season with a 4-3 triumph over the Eastern Mennonite Royals on Wednesday afternoon. The Falcons took a 3-0 lead, but the Royals battled back to tie the game in the top of the eighth. David Martinez drove home the eventual winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth with a knock that bounced off third base. Noah Barrall tossed the final 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball to earn his fourth victory of the season.
 
Dylan Beard went 3-4 in the ballgame, driving home one and scoring another. Luke Ott drove home a pair with a 2-3 day at the dish with a triple.
 
Messiah improves to 28-8 on the season, tying the 2005 (28-14-1) and 2008 (28-18) teams. The Falcons will be back in action on Friday when they host the Widener Pride at 3:30 p.m. to begin the final regular season conference series of the year. The Falcons need just one victory in the three-game series to clinch the top seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Tournament.
 
How It Happened
The Falcons and Royals played three scoreless innings on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon before Messiah broke through for a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Evan Wagaman led off the fourth with a double to right center and Dylan Beard followed him with a second double to nearly the same spot, scoring Wagaman and giving Messiah a 1-0 advantage. Luke Ott was up next and bounced a ball through the right-side of the infield chasing Beard home and giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
 
Two frames later, Joshua Ammons extend his program-record hitting streak to 21 games with a bunt single to lead off the sixth. Two batters later, Luke Ott roped a triple down the rightfield line, bringing Ammons all the way around from first for the Falcons third run of the day.
 
Eastern Mennonite got on the board an inning later, scoring a pair in the top of the seventh. The Royals needed just one hit to plate their two runs, taking advantage of a failed pick off attempt that went down the right-field line and a two-base wild pitch to score a runner from second. After the wild frame, Messiah held a 3-2 advantage.
 
An inning later, that one-run lead disappeared when the Royals scored an unearned run on a squeeze bunt with the bases loaded. Messiah went home with the throw, but were unable to get an out. Noah Barrall limited the damage, getting the last two batters of the frame via the strikeout as the Royals left the bases loaded.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Dylan Beard led off the inning with a bunt single. After a Luke Ott sacrifice bunt, Beard moved to second and was pinch run for by Jake Brown. A fly ball to left field allowed Brown to move to third with two outs. David Martinez then grounded a single down the third-base line that actually popped straight off the bag, allowing him to reach and Brown to score the go ahead run.

In the ninth, Barrall worked around a two-out walk and single, striking out the last batter of the game to seal the 4-3 victory for the Falcons.
 
Barrall earned the win, tossing 1.2 innings of shutout ball to close out the game, striking out four while allowing one hit and on run. Brody Martin threw four strong innings as the Falcons' starter. Martin allowed three hits and walked one while striking out six batters.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will host the Widener Pride on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Messiah needs just one victory this weekend to clinch the top spot in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The Falcons have already clinched hosting duties for the MAC Commonwealth Semifinals that will take place next weekend on May 3-4.