GRANTHAM, Pa. – Hood scored six of their nine runs on the day in the fifth inning or later of both games to turn up the heat against familiar foe Messiah but dropped the doubleheader contest 5-4 and 8-5 on Thursday afternoon.
In the Batter's Box
Matthew Stout (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) notched three hits on the day including a homer and three RBIs.
Ty Broughton (Charles Town, W.Va./Washington) earned four hits on the day, scored, and drove in a run.
AJ Haines (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) had a pair of doubles and scored in game two.
Rhett Robbins (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) had a pair of hits and scored twice in game one.
On the Mound
Skylar Albright (Hendersonville, N.C./Hendersonville) got the game one start throwing five scoreless innings before his exit in the sixth.
From the Bullpen
Tyler Knill (Frederick/Frederick) allowed two hits in his scoreless two innings in game two.
Messiah 5, Hood 4
With two outs in the second inning,
Rhett Robbins (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) doubled in the gap and advanced via wild pitch on Broughton's free pass to first. Stout served a ball to right to put Hood's first run on the board.
The first two innings had Falcons in scoring position early but were put at bay with some good defense. Albright would work through the next three innings with little action for Messiah.
Fast forward to the fifth where Brennan worked a walk and went station-to-station all the way to third base. Another two-out scenario for the Blazers, Broughton poked a ball through the left side for the second run of the game.
Messiah flipped the script in the sixth inning with two runners on turned into the inning that would unfold and put five runs on the board for the opposition to snatch a 5-2 advantage.
The last chance in the seventh started with a leadoff single by Robbins. Two outs kicked in and the stress put Hood into gear with
Jack Patterson (Boyds, Md./Northwest) drawing a walk.
Amrit Brown (Asheville, N.C./Asheville) hit the defibrillator on the game as the Blue & Grey were down to their last strike when he roped an inside pitch into centerfield scoring two and putting the tying run 90 feet away. With a pitching change for the Falcons, the newbie forced the last batter to flyout and halt the comeback.
Messiah 8, Hood 5
Messiah put the hammer down early after almost slipping up in game one with a pair of one-out hits to put trouble on. Wagaman swung onto centerfield a shot over the fence to score three.
A big inning in the fifth for the Falcons added to the deficit and left the Blazers down seven with three innings to play.
The sixth's spark for the Blue & Grey started quick with Broughton sneaking a ball down the right field line before Stout touched a ball and sent it out over the right field fence to notch a couple of Hood runs.
The eighth added a run via a little messy play by the host with three straight free passes and an airmail by the catcher to second base.
Messiah would fins themselves fending off another late comeback as Hood would load the bases with no outs in the ninth and force the Falcons to reach into their bullpen. Patterson worked a full count and took a good pitch up high to walk in another.
James Gruenfelder (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Earl L. Vandermulen) would fight off an inside piece and find green grass in left to score another to creep into a three-run ballgame.
Baseballs would be trapped in by the right side of the infield and end the threat but the Blazers showed they can hang around with the best of them in the MAC Commonwealth.
Notes
Hood falls to 8-18, 4-7 in conference.
Messiah improves to 17-9, 9-1 at the top of the MAC Commonwealth.
Up Next
The series will close tomorrow as Hood will host Messiah at Frederick Community College with first pitch set for 3:30 p.m. on their Faculty Appreciation night.
