ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — Elizabethtown College baseball took the field for the first of three games against Messiah, Friday. The Blue Jays may not have known about all the possible scenarios that would get them into the Commonwealth Conference playoffs, but they know now that wins Saturday will be vital. Messiah broke open a 1-1 game with two runs in the seventh, and seven more in the eighth, to win 10-5, and spoil the regular season finale for E-town at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium.

E-town's Rob Cressman and Messiah's Jon Lapp traded standout performances through six innings. Cressman barely wavered in his mission to keep the Falcons off base. Messiah (16-21, 9-7 CC) managed five hits through six frames, it's only run coming on Wes Hollenbach's RBI single up the middle in the top of the fourth.

With the Falcon offense sputtering at the plate, their pitcher, Lapp, needed to be just as good. Even though the Messiah sophomore allowed three, two-hit innings, he left with a 3-1 lead after seven. Mike Stobbe's double that was hammered to the left field wall accounted for E-town's (17-20, 7-9 CC) only run to that point, as it brought in Matt Reade.

The low scoring pace was of benefit to the Blue Jays, but they slowly lost their grasp on that type of game in the late innings. In the seventh, Messiah's lead-off double from Derek Drake set the tone for two runs to come across the plate later in the inning. Matt Turman singled in Drake, and Sam Tajiri's sac fly scored Zach Brubaker, who had singled and stolen second to move himself into scoring position.

Seven runs in the eighth, six of which were unearned due to four E-town errors, turned the tight contest into a 10-1 runaway for the visitors.

Elizabethtown showed Messiah that it will not go down easily this weekend, fighting back for four runs in the ninth. Steve Motika, one of six seniors playing in their final home game, knocked in a run and Dillon Tagle completed a 4-for-5 day with a two-run double to deep center field. Pat Mulligan, another senior, also drove in a run on a fielder's choice that left the game at its final score.

Widener, playing conference leader and No. 1 seed in next week's championships, Alvernia, fell 5-4 in game one of its series, meaning the Jays and Pride remain tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the league. Arcadia, a 6-2 winner over Albright, moved to within a game of both playoff hopefuls. All teams have a pair of games to play Saturday.

Motika, Mulligan and Reade joined Jon Bacher, Todd Leister and Tim Rosser as seniors to be honored prior to Friday's game. All five field players were in the lineup. Rosser, Motika and Reade all had a hit and a run scored. Bacher was 2-for-5 and Mulligan 1-for-5 with an RBI.

E-town will head to Grantham for its doubleheader with Messiah tomorrow. Game one is set for a noon start. If the Jays qualify for the conference playoffs, it will be the 14th straight year they have done so.