Saturday, February 21, 2009
Contact: Chris Kilcoyne

Messiah Sweeps Randolph-Macon Baseball on Saturday
(Game 1) / (Game 2) 

ASHLAND, VA - Visiting Messiah College swept a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon from Randolph-Macon. The Falcons won game one 4-3 and the night cap 5-1. R-MC now stands at 4-4 overall and Messiah is 2-2 on the season.

With game one tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Jay Lichter led off with a single and then James Bierlein's bunt was misplaced putting two runners on. After a Brian Jordan bunt moved the runners up one base, Kevin Davis delivered a singe to score both Lichter and Bierlein and to give R-MC a 3-1 edge.

The lead was short lived as Messiah rallied for a pair of runs off Jackets reliever Dillon Sheads in the next half inning and then scored the decisive run in the eighth on an over throw of third base on a steal attempt.

Falcon reliever Zach Adams threw 1.2 innings out of the pen without giving up a hit to secure his first win of the season. Haylie Lytton took the loss for R-MC in relief to drop his record to 0-1 on the year.

In game two, hurlers Eric Spring and Sheldon Witmer combined to allow just three hits on the afternoon and struck out six to send Messiah to the win. Spring started and went four innings, while Witmer picked up the save with three innings of one hit relief.

The Falcons struck for two runs in their third inning. R-MC starter Matt Tiller retired the first two batters of the inning, then walked a pair before Jordan Zimmerman smacked a triple to score both runners and put Messiah up 2-0.

Messiah tacked on a run the next inning, then two more runs in the fifth inning to open up the 5-1 edge. Tiller took the loss in his first appearance of the season.

Randolph-Macon will be back in action on Sunday when it takes on Mary Washington at 1:00 p.m. in Ashland.

-Yellow Jackets-