WEST LAWN, Pa. — Not many inside the Commonwealth Conference expected Elizabethtown baseball to be one of Saturday's championship participants. But there were the young Blue Jays, going toe-to-toe with Messiah in the final at Owls Field in West Lawn, Pa. E-town had its opportunities, but Messiah was able to respond each time. The Falcons claimed an 11-5 victory and with it the Commonwealth Conference Championship.

Elizabethtown (19-19) fell behind 1-0 on Ryan Brown's triple in the bottom of the first, a precursor of things to come. Messiah belted four triples against Blue Jay pitching on the afternoon.

Ryan Donahue and Andrew Gordon executed a well-timed double steal to get the Blue Jays on the board in the top of the third. Donahue scooted around Brown at the plate, drawing an argument from Messiah's catcher. It would fall on deaf ears, though, as E-town had made it a 1-1 ballgame.

In the middle of the action again, Brown grounded out to drive in the Falcons' second run of the day in the third. Messiah (25-17) started to distance itself in the fifth with three more runs against E-town starter Vaclav Hasik (2-2). Designated hitter Matt Turman came up with a huge two-run triple in the frame to give Messiah some breathing room.

An unlikely hero for the Falcons, Turman came into Saturday's championship with a .000 batting average in five games played this season. The sophomore finished 4-for-4 with three runs batted in. Three of his four hits went for extra bases, including a double and two three-baggers.

Steve Motika's RBI ground out in the fifth against Messiah's Eric Spring (3-2) cut the Blue Jays deficit to three at 5-2, but Messiah wasted no time in putting another crooked number on the Owls Field scoreboard. Three more runs came across the plate for Messiah in the fifth. Jamie Scott and Turman each had RBI triples, while Drew Frankenfield added a run-scoring ground rule double to left center field.

E-town would get as close as three runs after its at bats in the seventh. Right fielder Tim Rosser drove in a run in the sixth, while Dillon Tagle and Motika both scored in the seventh courtesy of a Messiah error.

Messiah's third three-run inning of the game —this time in the eighth— would all but seal the Grantham, Pa., school's fourth conference title. Tournament MVP John Brubaker knocked in Turman with a single back through the box, and the Falcons added runs on an error and a walk to make it 11-5.

Jon Lapp worked a 1-2-3 ninth to retire the Jays, and end their season at 19-19.

Motika's two-hit afternoon paced the Jays, who got nine knocks off of Messiah pitching. Motika finished the season with a .409 batting average (56-for-137). The 56 hits were tied for seventh most in a single-season in Elizabethtown's 78-year history. Each of the top six players in Elizabethtown's lineup had at least one hit.

Tagle, who hit .342 and had 17 doubles in 2011, stands tied for third in single-season doubles by a Blue Jay. The New Jersey-born sophomore was 1-for-4 with a run scored and a walk Saturday.

Four pitchers put in work for E-town in the title game, including Greg Katz, who threw 1.1 innings in his final collegiate outing. Hasik absorbed the loss, giving up five runs (four earned) and six hits in 3.1 innings. Zack Mills and Jake Hoffstein threw the last 3.1 frames for the Blue Jays.

Spring went five innings for Messiah, striking out three and walking four along the way. Spring got solid efforts from four relievers to preserve his third win of the season.

Messiah earns the Commonwealth Conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Elizabethtown, with its 13th straight postseason appearance in the book, will look to build on its efforts from this season in 2012.