FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Washington College baseball team jumped ahead early, but a late offensive surge pushed Messiah past the Shoremen, 8-5, in their season opener on Saturday at Armstrong-Shelley Stadium.

How It Happened
- The Shoremen opened the morning's scoring in the top of the first inning. With one out, freshman outfielder Cael Magill slapped a single to the left side and promptly stole second. After advancing to third on a groundout, Magill scored on sophomore first baseman Danny Sheeler's RBI double to left center.

- Washington tacked on two more in the third frame. Magill again singled with one down, this time to right field, and moved up to third courtesy of senior Chris Baker base hit. Once again, Sheeler drove in Magill, while Baker moved up to third. Senior thid baseman Joe Curtin reached on a fielder's choice, with Baker scoring on the play and giving the Shoremen a 3-0 advantage.

- Messiah plated their first run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Outfielder Clayton Roberts reached on an error to open the frame and found himself on second two outs later. Fellow outfielder Dean Carver doubled, scoring Roberts for the unearned run and cutting the visitors advantage to two runs.

- Two more came across the dish for the Shoremen in the fifth. For the third time in the game, the scoring began with a single from Magill. Baker immediately followed with an RBI double down the right field line to score him. After advancing on a Sheeler groundout, Baker dashed home thanks to senior shortstop CJ Gillmer and his one-out sacrifice fly.

- Trailing the visitors 5-1, the tide began turning for Messiah in the bottom of the fifth. The Falcons drove in infielder Reed Wagner via fielder's choice and two more runs came across later in the frame on an error to narrow Washington's lead to 5-4.

- Messiah took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth. With one down in the stanza, Thomas Murray single to right. Wagner received the free pass in the next at-bat, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. The Shoremen opted to hand Kasey Caras the open base via intentional walk, but surrendered the game-tying run via Zercher fielder's choice to drive in Murray. The Falcons took the lead for good via wild pitch, with Wagner racing home to give Messiah the 6-5 advantage.

- The hosts added some insurance in the eighth. Wagner earned a free pass with one down and Caras followed suit to put runners on first and second. Messiah pulled out the double steal to advance both runners, while Wagner dashed all the way home on a throwing error. In the next at-bat, Caras sprinted home on a wild pitch to set the final score at 8-5.

For the Shoremen                                 
Hitting: Chris Baker (2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R), Cael Magill (3-4, BB, SB, 3 R)
Pitching: Michael Roseman (Loss, 0-1, 1.0 innings, one hit, two earned runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout)

For the Falcons
Hitting: Reed Wagner (1-3, 2 BB, 3 R), Dean Carver (1-3, 2B, BB, RBI)
Pitching: Kenny Runkel (Win, 1-0, 4.0 innings, one hit, no runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts)

Up Next
The Shoremen will play single contests on Sunday against Arcadia and Methodist.