Baseball Headed Back to Conference Tournament After Splitting Two vs. Messiah

(Game 1) / (Game 2)

Widener used great pitching, exceptional defense and a huge insurance home run for a 3-0 home victory over Messiah in game two of the doubleheader to clinch a spot in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament.

The Falcons rallied for an 8-7 win in the opener.

With game two's winner advancing to the conference tournament, Widener grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Matt Scherer (Havertown, PA) reached on a Zach Brubaker's error at second base, took second on a wild pitch and went to third on a single from sophomore Marc Noyalis (Dallas, PA). Junior Michael Riverso (Philadelphia, PA) followed with a fly ball that was dropped by left fielder Ben Sollenberger, allowing Scherer to score.

Belford, NJ senior Brandon McCloskey (4-2) was on cruise control throughout, taking the momentum his team gave him to retire 15 straight batters that went from the first to the end of the fifth inning.

McCloskey got a lot of help from Scherer in left field. With two outs in the fifth, David Sletta hit a liner that Scherer made a dive to his left for the catch. Scherer was not done as he charged after Jacob Sprengle's liner with two outs in the sixth and dove to his right for another sensational catch.

The Pride's lead was 1-0 in both instances, but that would change in the sixth. Noyalis led off by being hit by a pitch and Riverso followed with a moon shot to right for his first career home run and a 3-0 lead.

Messiah went in order in the seventh and McCloskey had his first shutout of the season, striking out two and permitted just two hits with no walks.

Evan Young (1-4) pitched great for the Falcons, but allowed three runs – two earned – and four hits over five innings. Brubaker and Sollenberger had both hits.

Messiah forced the winner-take-all game by grabbing game one, thanks to five runs in the sixth for an 8-6 cushion. Casey Ebersole delivered the key blow with a three-run double to left center that gave the Falcons the lead.

Riverso had three RBI in the contest and six on the day, including a two-run single during a first inning which the Pride held a 4-0 cushion. Scherer, senior Dennis Hocker (Coral Springs, FL) and junior Sam Christie (Upper Darby, PA) all had two hits in the game.

Noyalis had a hit in each contest, is riding a 13-game hitting streak and has a hit in 29 of his last 30 contests. He is batting .422 over his last 30 games with 49 hits and 31 RBI. Noyalis (2-2) took the loss after yielding one run and two hits over 1 1/3 innings.

"After dropping the first game today, especially in the fashion we did, it showed a lot of heart for our guys to bounce back and win game two," Widener coach Mike LaRosa said. "Messiah is a good team and they battled us tough this entire series. This entire weekend had a playoff atmosphere to it and our guys rose to the challenge. I think playing in this kind of 'do-or-die' situation is going to help us as we enter the conference tournament."

Jon Lapp (6-2) recorded the win, surrendering seven runs – five earned – and 11 hits over seven innings.

Widener is the fourth seed and will battle top-seeded Alvernia on Thursday at 4:00 pm in West Lawn, PA to open the double-elimination tournament.

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