Squad Gets Off To Mistake-Filled Start In Sunshine State
Posted: 3/13/2009
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Normally sure-handed at second base, junior Jon Shenk was one of the afflicted Friday.

Winter Haven, FL — Chalk it up to being Friday the 13th.

Please.

Messiah committed a program-record 11 errors in a 1-12 loss to 15th-ranked Cortland State University Friday evening, beginning its week-long stay in central Florida with the shakiest of starts.

“It’s frustrating because we are a fairly decent defensive team,” said Bryan Engle, Messiah head coach. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a worse defensive outing than the one that resulted in our game tonight. I know I’ve never seen that many errors in one game in my life.”

Neither had Messiah. Over the past decade, the most errors a Falcons’ team made in a single game was seven — occurring in the 2006 season.

Engle’s club picked a bad outing to set a new mark for futility, as Cortland State entered as this year’s top-ranked squad in the NCBWA Top 25 Pre-Season Poll, returning a bulk of its 2008 roster that competed in the NCAA Division III World Series and finished with an overall record of 42-5.

The combination of Red Dragon talent and Messiah mistakes turned Friday’s contest ugly early, as Cortland State (8-5) rattled off seven runs in the top of the second inning en route to scoring six unearned runs in cruising to the win. An incredible five errors led to three of the Dragons’ seven second-inning runs coming in unearned fashion, as sophomore and starting pitcher Travis Thome (1-2) was saddled with the tough-luck loss.

“Travis threw really well, and it was another situation where I’m not sure I have seen someone throw so well and yet not get the support behind him,” Engle said. “It would have been easy for him to get flustered and not stay composed, however he did stay in control mentally and continued to fight.”

Thome went five full innings while giving up eight hits and allowing just five earned runs, striking out four while walking two. Messiah (4-7) committed seven of its 11 errors with Thome on the mound, eventually falling behind by an 11-0 count before scoring its lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. A leadoff single from sophomore Sean Hart was brought home via an RBI double from junior Jon Shenk, as Messiah would generate eight hits while stranding nine base runnners on the evening.

“I actually thought that we hit the ball fairly well,” Engle said. “We had a couple long, loud outs and some solid sharp hits. (Travis Thome and I) had a quick conversation after I pulled him out and I encouraged him to have a short memory with this one, to be encouraged he threw well but to move on right away and start focusing on his next start. His pitch count was where we needed it to be, so we went with (freshman) Chance Sorensen. He threw really well and showed promise to be able to help us throughout the year.”

In just his second appearance of the year, Sorensen tossed three innings of work while striking out three and walking just one. Freshman Nate Roten finished things off in the ninth, facing five batters while striking out one.

Junior Jordan Zimmeran complemented Shenk’s two-bagger with a double of his own, accounting for all of Messiah’s extra-base hits on the day. No Falcon registered multiple hits.

“It’s frustrating not to play well defensively against a high quality opponent like Cortland,” Engle said. “Defense is always something you can control. You face different pitchers, therefore affecting your hitting, but the defense should be something that you can physically control. I can deal with physical errors, it’s the mental errors in all phases that we have to stop making. At the same time, with as many physical errors as we made tonight, it’s not easy to stomach.”

Messiah had arrived in Florida earlier in the day, taking a train from a Washington, D.C. area station Thursday afternoon and traveling through the night. The game against Cortland was the first of seven to be played in the Sunshine State.

“I don't believe we are as mentally strong as we need to be yet,” Engle said. “Some of the guys talked about being tired and using our long train ride as an excuse, but we can't make excuses. The fact that you let the doubt creep in means you have already allowed a non-positive thought to come in. We have to train ourselves to block it out and continue to believe in our ability to get the job done anytime, against anyone, anywhere. We need to become more hardnosed in our approach as ballplayers. The other side of that is we have to turn the page and come ready to play tomorrow. Regardless of today's result, we have to bounce back. If we threw a no-hitter today and won, it would not affect how we need to come out tomorrow. Baseball is such a game of short memory - not only from game to game, but really from inning to inning, at bat to bat and sometimes even pitch to pitch.”

Messiah will face off against FDU-Florham in double-header action tomorrow, with the first of two slated to begin at 1 p.m.