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BOYERTOWN, PA– Leadoff hitter Peter Godino homered to leftfield in the sixth inning for all the scoring the Falcons would need as #5 seed Messiah College edged #6 Franklin & Marshall 1-0 to knock the Diplomats out of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Baseball Regional Tournament at Bear Stadium. The game marked the second straight 1-0 loss by the Diplomats (25-16) in the NCAA Regional Tournament as Franklin & Marshall fell to Rowan University 1-0 in 10 innings on May 19 in the double-elimination tournament. Messiah College (28-13-1) will continue the tournament on May 21 with an opponent to be determined after Friday night’s Rowan/The College of New Jersey match-up at Bear Stadium. TCNJ enters with one loss in the double-elimination tournament after falling to Alvernia 6-5 on a walk-off homerun, while Rowan enters with a 1-0 record following the Profs’ win over F&M. The Messiah-F&M game was another pitchers’ duel as both hurlers blanked their opposition through five innings as they faced sporadic threats through the first half of the game. The Diplomats best chance at scoring came in the first inning as Pat O’Reilly (Fr., Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) singled up the middle and Tommy Miller (Fr., York, PA/Central York) singled to left field to put F&M’s first two batters on base. O’Reilly was forced at third base on a ground ball by Gary Kruger (Jr., East Islip, NY/East Islip) before Corey Caruthers (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) walked to load the bases with one out. However, Messiah starter Kyle Brobst, the MAC Commonwealth Pitcher of the Year, worked out of the jam as Miller was forced at the plate on a ground ball by Jon Compitello (Jr., Yardley, PA/George School) and Dan Hanecak (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) grounded out to second base to end the threat and the inning. Franklin & Marshall managed two other base runners in the first five innings as Kruger walked with two outs in the third inning and Josh Welk (So., Strasburg, PA/Lancaster Christian) singled through the right side with one out in the fifth.
On the mound, F&M starter Jeremy Knox (Jr., Bronx, NY/Iona
Prep) stifled the Falcons’ bats allowing a two out walk in
the first, a leadoff single in the fourth and a two out single
in the fifth as no runner reached second base.
The turning point of the game came in the top of the sixth
inning as Craig Mease flied out to rightfield to start the
inning before Godino slugged a home run over the 350 feet
sign in leftfield to put Messiah up 1-0. Knox worked himself
out of the inning following back-to-back singles by Josh Clabaugh
and Chris Heisey by getting Chris Regan to fly out to rightfield
and Tyler Hollenbach to loft a fly ball to centerfield to
strand both runners.
Franklin & Marshall appeared primed to knot the game in the bottom of the sixth inning as Kruger walked and stole second base before Caruthers walked to put two runners on base. However, Kruger was cut down trying to steal third base as Caruthers advanced to second base and Brobst fanned Compitello to end the inning. Messiah looked to increase its lead in the seventh as Robert Revercomb doubled to the 380 feet sign in dead centerfield to open the inning and was sacrificed to third by Peter Dyson. The Falcons put on the suicide squeeze play on the first pitch of Andrew Bagley’s at-bat, but Knox and catcher Stephen Frederick (Jr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) read the play and pitched out as Frederick tagged Bagley out half-way down the baseline for the second out. Bagley then lined out to deep centerfield to end the inning. Neither team could manage much over the final two innings as Miller singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the eighth for the game’s last base runner. Knox mowed through the Falcons’ line-up in the top of the ninth to bring the Diplomats back to the plate with one last chance at victory. In the bottom of the ninth, Caruthers flied out to centerfield, Compitello struck out looking and Hanecak grounded out back to Brobst for the game’s final out. Overall, Messiah slugged seven hits and stranded four base runners, while the Diplomats collected four hits and four walks to leave six runners on base and be eliminated from the regional tournament. The loss drops Franklin & Marshall to 7-5 all-time against Messiah since the series began in 1971 and marks the first time that the Diplomats have been shutout in back-to-back games since the Falcons blanked F&M 1-0 and 3-0 on March 22, 1997 at Messiah. In the NCAA tournament, the Diplomats hit .188 (12-for-64) with 16 strikeouts and 12 total bases, while the Franklin & Marshall pitchers recorded a 0.98 ERA while holding Rowan and Messiah to a .206 batting average (13-for-63) with 14 strikeouts and 17 total bases. Franklin & Marshall concludes the season with a 25-16 record as the mark is the third most wins in school history behind the 1995 (30-6-1) and 2002 (31-10) teams.
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