Box Score Baseball
Lebanon Valley 30, Messiah 14

ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley and Messiah both came into their weekend series looking for some offensive pop in conference play. They found it - and then some.

Behind a huge 14-run, 19-batter third inning, the Dutchmen (6-16, 3-7 CC) blew apart the game on the way to a wild 30-14 win at McGill Field in the opener of their weekend set with the Falcons (7-14, 4-5 CC).

LVC's 30 runs were the second-most in modern program history, trailing only the 31 runs scored against Widener in 2003. The 44 combined runs are the most in program history, beating a 23-20 game against Wentworth in 2001.

Mike Specht led LVC with six RBI - including five in the third on a bases-loaded triple and a two-run double - while Andrew DeCew and Tim Filer each had four hits and scored four runs. The Dutchmen had five players with three or more hits, including Phill Dohner's 3-for-3 day, a 3-for-5 effort by Dylan Tamecki, and DeCew's perfect 4-for-4 afternoon.

Jimmie Miller earned the win for LVC to improve to 3-1, allowing just one hit through four before Messiah opened up with three runs in the fifth. The Dutchmen chased starter Evan Young (1-3) after just 2.1 innings and eight runs surrendered.

How crazy was the game? Consider that:

- Derek Brousseau was the only player to stay in the entire game for LVC, recording eight at-bats - one short of the NCAA record.
- Corey Cinicola drew two bases-loaded walks - in the same inning.
- Neither team hit a home run.
- Messiah used 26 players, including seven pitchers. LVC used 21 players, with three pitchers.
- The teams combined for 105 plate appearances; LVC alone had 64.
- LVC had 11 bases-loaded plate appearances (going 7-for-11) and 35 with runners in scoring position (going 18-for-35). The Dutchmen were an eye-popping 16-for-20 with runners on third.
- LVC batted around three times overall.
- The nine-inning game lasted 3:29.

After the 14-run third, LVC had another huge nine-run fifth along with three-sports in the fourth and eighth. Messiah, to its credit, chipped away with seven runs combined in the fifth and sixth and a seven-run eighth, recording 13 hits overall.

The two teams will meet again Saturday for two in Grantham to close out the Commonwealth Conference set.