Messiah University head baseball coach Phill Shallenberger isn’t entirely sure what his players are more excited about: getting to play for a national championship or knowing they get to spend a few more days together. The Falcons beat Endicott College 8-2 on Monday to improve to 3-0 at the NCAA Division III College World Series and reach the championship series for the first time in program history.
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MESSIAH RISES TO THE OCCASION, THE FALCONS ADVANCE TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES‼️🚨@MessiahSports clinches a berth to the Championship Series for the first time in program history!#WhyD3 | #D3baseball pic.twitter.com/YtVL1NpuSU
— NCAA Division III (@NCAADIII) June 2, 2025
After losing six of seven to begin the season, Messiah won 35 of its next 43 games to reach the World Series. The Falcons fell behind in their first two games as the lowest seed (No. 8) in the finals, but rallied to beat top-seeded Johns Hopkins University and fourth-seeded Enidcott by a combined score of 25-12.
A private Christian school located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Messiah’s mission is to “educate men and women toward maturity of intellect, character and Christian faith in preparation for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation in church and society,” according to the school’s website.
Faith is a central component of the way Shallenberger leads his program.
“It doesn’t allow any moment to get too big,” he said in an interview with D3 Baseball on Monday. “The most important thing in our life is Jesus, and it is better than life. [We] know that we have that peace beyond all understanding because we get to surrender to that.”
Glad to chat more with @MessiahSports baseball coach Phill Shallenberger after the game about his team's performance, the Open Hands mantra, and the Falcons' first trip to the Division III Championship Series. #d3baseball pic.twitter.com/UPfxF5mUAl
— D3baseball (@d3baseball) June 2, 2025
This season, the team has adopted “open hands” as its motto, encouraging players to take the field with confidence and surrender the results to the Lord. Shallenberger is very open about the fact that winning is not his top priority.
“Whether we win or lose, our ultimate mission doesn’t change: to point others closer to Him,” he said. “Being able to do that in a game allows our guys to play free. We go down big, it doesn’t matter. We play with open hands.”
Sophomore pitcher Jason Long threw a 133-pitch complete game in Monday’s victory, striking out five and allowing seven hits. He referenced the team’s motto on multiple occasions in the postgame press conference while talking about his performance on the mound.
“It’s just open hands,” he said. “Every inning in the dugout, every inning I get out there, just open hands and know that it’s not really me pitching. It’s me on the mound, but it’s God working through my hands. I don’t know the last time I went 130-some pitches. That’s all God’s strength.”
Shallenberger has been giving God the glory throughout his team’s unexpected journey. He has consistently pointed to the Lord in Instagram posts and has 2 Corinthians 12:9 in his bio: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
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The verse encapsulates the message Shallenberger has been sharing with his players as well as the media.
“Even for me, there’s times that I don’t feel adequate or feel worthy to lead this group because they are special,” he said in Monday’s postgame press conference. “And that’s when God reminds me what He did for us — the ultimate sacrifice of dying for us. If we were perfect, if we didn’t have faults, we wouldn’t need Him.”
Messiah begins its best-of-three series with No. 3-seed University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday. Games 2 and 3 (if needed) will be at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday.
However the Falcons’ season ends, Shallenberger is at peace knowing his job is about much more than wins and trophies.
“To do this at Messiah is special,” he told D3 Baseball. “It’s because our focus isn’t on those trophies, but it’s more on getting to build what we are here with these guys and knowing that those trophies, they collect dust. They do. They truly do. It’s the relationships and [making] these guys better people when they leave here is what the ultimate purpose is.”
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