PHILADELPHIA – The Arcadia University baseball team shook off a slow start at the plate to record a 12-3 MAC Commonwealth victory over visiting Messiah College Friday at Erny Field to open a three-game set against the Falcons. The two teams will meet again tomorrow for a conference twin bill at Messiah.
FOR THE RECORD: The Knights, who are receiving votes in both the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball and D3Basreball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls, improved to 25-8 for the season and 12-4 in conference play with the win. Arcadia has now won four in a row and 11 of its last 12 game. The Falcons fell to 10-20 overall and 4-12 in conference play with the loss.
RECORD WATCH: Arcadia's 25 victories are tied for the third-most in program history, matching the win total of the 2002 squad that finished the year 25-17. The program record of 28 wins was set in 2004, which was also the program's only NCAA tournament appearance to-date. The 2006 team finished 27-14, marking the second-most wins in a season.
ON THE HILL: Freshman
Tyler Showers (1-0) picked up the first win of his collegiate career after recording the final out of the top of the sixth after entering with a runner on first and two outs in the inning. Junior
Connor Laigaie followed with two scoreless innings of relief, and classmate
Mike Boulanger fanned a pair of batters in the ninth to close out the win. Jordan Nichols took the loss for Messiah after allowing four runs on three hits and three walks in his five-plus innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The game was scoreless until the sixth inning where the Falcons scored three times to take their only lead of the game. Josh Hayner scored on Colin Fry's infield single to open the scoring, while Sam Stewart drove in a Fry and Ben Wilson with his single up the middle to make it 3-0. Senior
Joseph Warren dominated Messiah's lineup through the first five innings, recording seven Ks before giving up the three runs in the sixth.
The Knights quickly answered with eight runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good. Freshman
Phil Pierfy drove in a pair of runs with his bases-loaded single to right and then scored behind senior
Justin Chasmar on sophomore
Nick Ponente's single to left center field to give Arcadia a 5-3 lead. Sophomore
Bryan Gillen scored on sophomore
Luke Hohenstein's single up the middle to cap the scoring in the sixth, and the Knights tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the seventh for the 12-3 final.
ARCADIA AT BAT: Hohenstein finished the game 3 for 5 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Pierfy went 2 for 5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Ponente finished the day 1 for 2 with one run scored and two runs driven in, while Gillen went 1 for 4 while also scoring one run and driving in a pair. Junior
Drew Coisson drove in two runs and scored once without the benefit of a hit.
MESSIAH AT BAT: Stewart went 3 for 3 and drove in two runs for the Falcons, while Hayner was 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Fry finished 1 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.
