By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Winchester, VA — For the majority of Wednesday's game at eighth-ranked Shenandoah University, Messiah appeared to be in position to upset the Hornets — a participant in last year's NCAA Division III World Series.
But then disaster struck.
Down one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, Shenandoah (17-5) put together an improbable rally, capitalizing on some Falcons' miscues to score two runs with two outs and take the game, 3-2.
“It always hurts to lose,” said Bryan Engle, Messiah's head baseball coach. “But this one really hurts. We should have won this game.”
Senior closer Elliot Thomas (0-2) struck out the first two batters of the ninth, before working a 2-2 count on Shenandoah junior Mike Smith, the last hope for the Hornets.
Thomas struck out Smith on a 2-2 pitch in the dirt, but the ball escaped the grasp of Falcons' freshman catcher David Adams, allowing Smith to reach second base and keep the game alive.
A walk put two men on base before an error by Falcons' shortstop John Brubaker sent the tying run across the plate and put runners on the corners.
From there, a ground ball from the Hornets' Jake Pendergraft slipped through the right side of the Falcons' infield, subsequently ending the game in walk-off fashion.
“You can't give a team five outs to play with,” Engle said. “Any time you give a team extra opportunities — especially a good team — they're going to capitalize, and that's exactly what (Shenandoah) did today.”
The heartbreaking ending overshadowed a superb performance by sophomore starting pitcher Nate Roten, who received a no-decision. Making just his third career start, Roten baffled the Hornets — ranked eighth in the latest ABCA/Collegiate Baseball D-III Top 25 and 20th in the most recent NCBWA/D3baseball.com poll — for seven innings, allowing just two hits and one run. Shenandoah, which entered the day boasting a .360 team batting average, batted .100 (2-for-20) against Roten.
“Nate threw a tremendous game,” Engle said. “It hurts not to get a 'W' for Nate because he was just phenomenal today.”
Roten — who leads the Falcons in earned run average (0.63) in four appearances this season — struck out two Hornets and forced 11 ground ball outs.
“Nate worked around the zone with his off-speed pitches. He didn't just throw strikes; he kept them off-balance and trusted his defense.”
Roten left the game after seven innings with a 2-1 lead, giving the ball to sophomore Zach Adams.
Adams put runners on second and third with one out in the eighth, following a pair of singles and a balk. However, the sophomore showed great poise in escaping the jam: Adams bore down and struck out the Hornets' Jon Holcomb and induced Jesse Henry into an inning-ending fly out.
What ensued was the aforementioned ninth inning, an inning that seemed certain to be over after three straight strikeouts from Thomas.
The Falcons' bats — which have averaged 5.3 runs per game this season — were uncharacteristically quiet on the day, scoring its only two runs in the second inning on a combination of a hit, an error, a balk and a passed ball.
Messiah (6-7) registered just five hits on the day, two by sophomore first basemen Wes Hollenbach, who raised his team-leading batting average to .452. Unfortunately for the Falcons, the team was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“For me as a coach, a tough loss like this is a great test of team character,” Engle said. “This shows how we as a group can respond to adversity. We have four huge games this week. We're going to learn a lot about ourselves as a team.”
The schedule gets no easier for Messiah, as the Falcons continue a five-game in four-day stretch tomorrow. Engle's club is slated to host Commonwealth Conference rival Widener University Thursday at 3:30 p.m. — a make-up date from an originally scheduled nine-inning affair last Friday.
The squad will then compete in a three-game series with league foe Elizabethtown College on Friday and Saturday. Messiah will be on the road Friday, with a home double-header scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. start Saturday afternoon.
