FORT PIERCE, Fla. – The Geneva College baseball team finished up its week in Florida on Monday morning with a game against Messiah College.  Geneva's defense struggled throughout, committing six errors, and Messiah took advantage with a 9-4 win.  Geneva's record is now 4-4, while Messiah improved to 5-6.

Sophomore Jacob Cardenas (Homestead, Fla./Miami Killian) took the mound for the Golden Tornadoes, and his defense immediately let him down with three errors in the first inning that led to three unearned runs for the Eagles.

Geneva responded in the bottom of the first inning with two runs, coming on back-to-back two-out RBI-singles by junior Jacob Poremski (Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area) and senior Josh Baptiste (Gasport, N.Y./Royalton Hartland Central), cutting the Messiah lead to 3-2.

Messiah added to its lead with a two-run, two-out single in the top of the third inning, and then the Eagles added another unearned in the fifth inning to make it 6-2.

Geneva answered back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning when Baptiste's two-out single drove in two runners, bringing the Golden Tornadoes within 6-4.  Unfortunately, that was as close as Geneva would get.

Messiah added two more runs in the top of the sixth, and one final run in the top of the ninth, as Geneva could not generate any more offense, losing 9-4 to the Eagles.

Cardenas took the loss, dropping his record to 1-1.  He pitched six innings, giving up seven hits and eight runs, just four that were earned.  Command also plagued Cardenas, with the sophomore walking seven batters while striking out four.

Baptiste did the most damage for the Golden Tornadoes offensively, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBIs.  Sophomore Tyler Seliga (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon) went 4-for-5 with a run, while Poremski and sophomore Garrison Wieland (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) each collected two hits.

"We definitely ended on a down note today," said Head Coach Alan Sumner.  "We finished with a pretty poor defensive game.  Overall, though, I thought we had some encouraging play this week at times.  Playing .500 ball in Florida against the teams we matched up with is a solid effort, and it gives us a little momentum as we open up conference play this weekend."

Geneva opens Presidents' Athletic Conference play this Friday with a game at Waynesburg, and then the Golden Tornadoes have their home-opener on Saturday with two more games against the Yellow Jackets.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.