FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Arcadia University baseball team opened the 2022 season splitting two games, defeating Messiah University 10-1 after dropping game one to host Methodist University 14-8 in non-conference play on Saturday.
 
The Knights stand at 1-1 after the two games.
 
In game two against Messiah, the game remained scoreless through the first three innings before the Falcons got on the board with an unearned run in the top of the fourth.
 
Arcadia took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with four runs. Ryan Smolen led off with a walk and moved to third on a single from Hunter Curley with Curley advancing to second on the throw. Matt Donchez followed with a line out sacrifice fly bringing home Smolen to tie the score. After Curley moved to third on a wild pitch, Nick Opalkowski singled to the pitcher bringing home Curley and a one run lead. Alex Madera walked, putting runners at first and second with one out. Emilio Pallante moved the runners up a base with a groundout to first, followed by a two-run single to left from Justin Massielo scoring Opalkowski and Madera.
 
The Knights added on in the bottom of the fifth with three runs when Smolen led off with a walk and stole second, and moved to third on a passed ball. Curley reached on a walk and moved to second on a while pitch before Donchez walked to load the bases with no outs. After a pop-out, Madera doubled to the gap in left-center bringing home Smolen and Curley before Pallante brought home Donchez with a ground ball to the pitcher to make the score 7-1.
 
Opalkowski led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and stole second before moving to third on a wild pitch. After Madera walked and stole second, Pallante hit a sacrifice fly to center bringing home Opalkowski. Following a pop-out, Joseph Kumar singled up the middle to score Madera and increase Arcadia's lead to 9-1.
 
The Knights plated the final run in the bottom of the eighth when Aaron Oswalt singled to right bringing home Matthew Sot, who led off getting hit by a pitch.
 
Hunter Sibley earned the win, tossing five innings allowing one unearned run on three hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. Zach Steiger followed with three hitless innings and Tyler Costaro finished the game with a scoreless inning.
 
Madera, Massielo, Curley, and Opalkowski finished with two hits each to lead the offense in game two.
 
In game one against Methodist, the Monarchs opened the game with five runs in the bottom of the first.
 
Arcadia got on the board in the top of the second when Connor Cheeseman hit a one-out single up the middle and moved to second when Smolen walked with two outs. Nick Bon Tempo tripled to right center, bringing home both runners to make the score 5-2.
 
Bon Tempo drove home Cheeseman again in the top of the fourth to make the score 5-3 with a sacrifice fly to right field after Cheeseman led off the frame with a single to left, moved to second on a Trey Obarowski single, and moved to third on a bunt single from Smolen that loaded the bases.
 
Methodist added a run in the bottom of the fifth, while the Knights made the score 6-4 in the top of the sixth on a single from Pallante that scored Zachary Sekelick, who had reached on a two-out walk and stole second.
 
The Monarchs opened the game up with five runs in the bottom of the sixth with five runs.
 
Arcadia began chipping away, making the score 11-6 in the top of the seventh when Cheeseman reached second on an error by the shortstop to lead off the inning and score when Obarowski doubled down the left field line. Smolen followed with a walk and Bon Tempo reached on a fielder's choice that put out Smolen at second to out runners at first and third with one out. After Madera walked to load the bases, every runner moved up on a wild pitch that scored Obarowski.
 
Methodist added a run in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 12-6.
 
The Knights cut the score to 12-8 in the top of the eighth when Kumar and Cheeseman led off the frame with back-to-back hit-by-pitches. Obarowski followed with a walk to load the bases before Smolen hit into a double play scoring Kumar. Bon Tempo then singled to center to score Cheeseman.
 
The Monarchs finished the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Luke Fornier suffered the defeat in game one, allowing five runs on six hits over two innings.
 
Pallante, Cheeseman, Obarowski, and Bon Tempo all had two hits for Arcadia in the first game.
 
The Knights return to the diamond on Sunday when they face Washington College for an 11:00 a.m. non-conference game to finish their initial southern trip.