GRANTHAM, Pa. — Cliff Smith would probably prefer his team not wait until the final day of the regular season to lock down a Commonwealth Conference playoff spot. That's exactly what the Elizabethtown College baseball team did for the second year in a row, however. E-town swept Messiah on the road by scores of 2-1 and 15-1, picking up the No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament in the process.

Last year's pitching staff ace, Matt Ruth, got the ball in game one and kept Messiah (16-23, 9-9 CC) off balance with stuff that led to his sub-2.00 ERA in 2011. It's been a rocky road for the junior from York this season. Recently he's been featured exclusively out of the bullpen. But Saturday, when called upon, Ruth delivered.

Messiah scored only a seventh inning run and no hitter registered more than one hit in the game, as Ruth threw a complete-game five-hitter for his first victory of the season.

Elizabethtown (19-20, 9-9 CC) put itself ahead in a flash, using Tyler Weary's lead-off double and a Dillon Tagle first inning RBI single to claim a 1-0 edge. The Jays would double that lead in the top of the sixth. Weary again got himself on base with a single, and when Tim Rosser reached on an error, Weary, a freshman, went all the way to third. Luke Gatti then stepped up and sent a ball deep enough to right field to earn a sacrifice fly.

Tagle, who extended his hitting streak to six games in game one (and to seven in game two), raised his average above .400 by going 3-for-7 with two runs and two RBI Saturday.

Zach Adams, Messiah's starter, allowed only four hits, as E-town outhit the Falcons 6-5 for the game. Adams took the loss, walking one and striking out four over six innings. Ruth registered three strikeouts and did not walk a single batter in the win.

Much as they did in game one, the Blue Jays wasted no time in getting a much-needed lead in game two. Weary slapped another single to left field and scored on Tagle's one-out single to the same spot.

Elizabethtown saved its best offensive game for the finale, scoring a season-high 15 runs on a season-high 18 hits in the blowout win. Though Messiah tied the game at one in the bottom of the third, the Blue and Gray had a single run in its arsenal in the top of the fourth before cracking the game open with eight runs in the fifth.

Ryan Haggerty's lead-off triple in the top of the fourth set up Matt Reade's sac fly. E-town then sent 12 batters to the dish in the fifth against MC pitchers Nate Roten, Davin Okerblom and Galen Halteman.

Haggerty got the fifth inning run purge started with a bases loaded fielder's choice that drove in Gatti. After Reade walked to re-load the bases, Stobbe walked for a RBI and Weary singled to shortstop driving in another. Rosser made it a rout with a double that cleared the bases and Gatti, up for the second time in the inning, doubled to bring Rosser in from second.

Tagle finished off the inning with a single to right field that plated Gatti again.

The Blue Jays also scored a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh. Weary knocked the sixth inning run in on a fielder's choice, while Shane Hosler doubled in a run in the seventh and Ian Smith brought two home on a two-bagger himself.

Jake Hoffstein nearly gave E-town a 2-for-2 day in complete games, allowing six hits in six innings to improve to 2-3 this year. It was an outstanding pitching day for the Jays, as they did not have to use their bullpen outside of Todd Leister's seventh inning appearance in game two. They will head into the Commonwealth Conference Championships with fresh arms because of it. Wes Hollenbach (3-1) suffered his first setback of the year for Messiah. Hollenbach gave up two runs over four innings, before the bullpen was rocked.

Six extra base hits went in the book for the Blue Jays in game two. Luke Gatti led all players with three hits (3-for-4) and three runs scored. Rosser (three), Tagle (two), Weary (two) and Smith (two) all had multi-RBI games.

Jon Lapp, Friday's winning pitcher, was 2-for-3 for Messiah, giving the home team its only multi-hit effort of the afternoon.

The wins sent Elizabethtown past Messiah and into third place in the conference standings. The Jays and Falcons finished with identical 9-9 records in league play, but E-town's sweep Saturday gave it the series victory this weekend, 2-1, and the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Elizabethtown, which will be participating in the conference tournament for the 14th year in a row, opens play Thursday against No. 2 seed Lebanon Valley at 7:30 p.m. Albright College will host the tournament once again at Owls Field at Ted Palka Park in West Lawn, Pa.