Patience Plus Heavy Hitting At Top Yields Regional-Opening Win
Sophomore Adam Ranck's four hits were part of a monstrous outing at the top of the Falcons' batting order.

Newark, NJ – The Messiah College baseball team made the most of its NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional opener Wednesday morning, defeating Penn State Behrend College by an 8-1 score.

Messiah (28-16) used 17 hits – 12 of which came from the Falcons’ top four batters – to slowly pull away from the Behrend Lions (34-11), earning the program its first regional-opening victory in three attempts. The win was also Messiah’s 28th of the year, tying the single-season record set during the 2005 campaign.

“It is huge to win this first game,” said Bryan Engle, Messiah head coach. “You always want to stay in the winner’s bracket, and I was really pleased with how we stayed after it today. We didn’t get the big hits early, but our approaches at the plate were really good and it eventually paid off for us.”

Engle’s club hung around to claim a 3-1 lead through seven full innings before a solo score in the eighth and a four-run ninth inning opened things up. Senior Dan Kern (7-3) collected the pitching win, going eight innings while misguiding just one of his 100 pitches, giving up a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

That was virtually Kern’s only mistake of the day, however, as the small-in-stature ace kept Penn State Behrend on the ground for the majority. Messiah recorded 19 total assists in the field, 16 of which came from the left side of the infield.

Kern walked just one batter and issued no strikeouts, being relieved in favor of classmate Ben Jordan to start the ninth. Jordan promptly struck out his first batter faced, drawing laughter from Kern in the dugout.

“Danny proves that you don’t have to be an overpowering pitcher to be great,” Engle said. “He kept his pitches down in the zone, and that resulted in a lot of ground balls. He changed speeds well, and he kept (Penn State Behrend) base runners off balance. Danny was very good today. And that’s what you expect from your senior leader.”

Kern benefitted from an early 1-0 lead after the top of the third inning, where an infield single from senior Kyle Stuckey was eventually driven home by another base knock from sophomore Adam Ranck.

Following a tense defensive half of the fourth – Kern got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam – the Falcons tacked on two more scores in the sixth, as senior Craig Mease led off with a single. Another single from Ranck followed, while a double from sophomore Jordan Zimmerman plated Mease. An infield single from senior Ben Snyder then plated Ranck.

Behrend’s Adam Martin then homered to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but Kern responded to force a pair of groundouts, followed by a Lion base hit that was unsuccessfully extended into a double: Snyder fired a rocket to Mease, cutting down the Penn State Behrend base runner with plenty of time to spare.

As the designated home team began to feel the pressure – Behrend used four total pitchers including three in the final four stanzas – Messiah delivered the knock out blow. A leadoff single from Zimmerman was eventually plated in the eighth inning, while a lead-off double from Mease began a six-hit, four score ninth. Jordan then provided the aforementioned K to begin the defensive half of the ninth for the Falcons, while Messiah’s defense ended the contest on a 6-4-3 double play – the team’s second roll-up of the game.

Ranck paced the squad’s offensive efforts, going 4-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Zimerman and Mease each finished 3-5, providing the Falcons with their only extra-base hits of the day: Mease had two doubles, while Zimmerman had one.

The combination of Mease, Ranck, Zimmerman and Sheldon Witmer accounted for 12 of Messiah’s 17 hits and four of the team’s six RBI, making Engle’s first four batters a lethal combination.

“Anytime your first four guys can put a line together like that, you’re going to put guys in position to score and bat guys in,” Engle said.

With the win, Messiah puts an end to its winless streak in regional openers, as the Falcons dropped a 6-1 decision to Cortland State University in 2003 while suffering a heartbreaking, bottom-of-the-ninth 5-4 walk-off defeat to DeSales University in 2005.

Wednesday’s loss was only the 11th of the season for Penn State Behrend, which will move to the consolation bracket for a 10 a.m. contest Thursday. The Lions did not steal a base Wednesday (after nabbing 103 in 123 tries on the year), while starting pitcher David Koerbel (8-2) suffered just his second loss of the season on the mound.

“(Koerbel) was good,” Engle said. “He was one of the hardest throwing pitchers we’ve seen this year, and we were patient. We didn’t hit gappers or home runs, we just put the ball in play. We worked the counts really well. It was a smart game for us in a lot of ways.”

Messiah will now face 2007 National Champion and regional top seed Kean University, which defeated Gwynedd-Mercy College by an 8-6 score Wednesday.

“Anytime you have a chance to play the defending national champion, you have to be thrilled,” Engle said. “You know you’re going to face a great team at this point, but there may be no better test than this.”

Engle reiterated the fact that playing in the winner’s bracket on day two could not be understated.

“You can still have a sense of relaxation, where as if you’re in the consolation bracket, I think guys can tense up,” Engle said. “This team has impressed me all year with how loose they’ve been in their approach to games. We haven’t been tight, and we’ve enjoyed the moment while staying focused. That was apparent today, and I’m hoping we’ll come out with a similar outlook tomorrow.”

Messiah will face Kean at approximately 4:30 p.m. at Bears and Eagle Riverfront Stadium Thursday. Live stats from that contest – along with the entirety of the Mid-Atlantic Regional – is available at the tournament website.