GRANTHAM, PA – The York College baseball team scored two runs in the top of the ninth to snag a 4-2 MAC Commonwealth win at Messiah University in Grantham, PA on Wednesday. The Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak as York picked up their sixth conference win of the year.
 
Records: York 15-14 (6-3 MACC); Messiah 17-15 (7-4 MACC)
Score: York 4, Messiah 2
Hits: York 5, Messiah 7
Errors: York 2, Messiah 2
WP: Zach Reed (4-2); LP: Nathan Stein (3-3); Save: Bryce Shaffer (1)
 
How It Happened
• The game was dominated by the starting pitchers early on as Zach Reed and Messiah's JJ Zirkle were dealing early on. Both starters threw up zeros in the first three innings of play. The Spartans finally struck for a run in the fourth as Joe Capobianco led off the inning with a double to center field. He moved to third on Jack Barry fly out to right. Capobianco scored on an Andrew Santarpia ground ball in which Santarpia reached on a Falcon error.
• The Falcons reached Reed for a pair of runs in the fifth as Joshua Ammons singled to lead off the inning. Reed got back-to-back strikeouts but Reed Wagner was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. The two Falcons moved up 90 each on a wild pitch. That would be key as Dustin Isangole singled to center to plate both runners and give the Falcons a 2-1 lead.
• Capobianco continued his stellar senior campaign as he tied the game to lead off the sixth with a solo homer to left. The homer is his team-leading tenth home run of the year.
• The game would remain tied until the top of the ninth when the Spartans pushed on top. Santarpia kicked off the inning with a one out single to center. Chris Nesensohn ran for Santarpia and he moved to second when Brendan Martin singled to left. The duo moved up one base each when Michael Tinneny grounded out to second. Garrett Kile drew a two-out walk to load the bases, bringing up pinch hitter Emidio Bucci. Bucci found himself down in the count 0-2 but was drilled with the next pitch to score the go-ahead run. Robby Elzinga followed with another walk to drive in a run and put the Spartans up two.
• Freshman Bryce Shaffer relieved Reed to start the ninth and set the Falcons down in order to earn his first career save.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Joe Capobianco: 2-for-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI, HR, 2B
Robby Elzinga: 1-for-3, RBI, 2 BB, SB
Brendan Martin: 1-for-4, 1 run
 
Spartan Pitching
Zach Reed: 8.0 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER, 4 K, 2 BB
Bryce Shaffer: 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs
 
Spartan Notes
York improves to 49-9 all-time against Messiah as the Spartans have now won six in a row against the Falcons … the Spartans had just five hits in the win, their lowest hit total in a win this year … York drew two walks and had one key hit by pitch in the win … York has drawn 22 walks in their last four games … York has won seven of their last ten … the two earned runs allowed are the Spartans lowest since allowing one run against Stevenson on April 5 … junior Zach Reed picked up his staff leading fourth win of the year as he has now tossed a team-high 52.2 innings this spring … freshman Bryce Shaffer was perfect in the ninth to earn the save … senior Joe Capobianco added to his team lead in homers (10) and RBI (36) … Capobianco also has 81 total bases, a .757 slugging percentage and a 1.242 OPS.
 
Up Next
The Spartans return to Jaquet Field on Friday afternoon as they host Messiah in the second game of the home and home series. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm from York.