Box Score
By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — For eight and a half innings Friday afternoon, Messiah was outplayed by Elizabethtown College on Starry Field.
And then, with one swing of the bat, junior Ryan Brown etched his name into Messiah baseball lore.
Brown provided the biggest moment of the season when he hit a three-run, come-from-behind, walk-off home run to give the Falcons (17-14, 11-2) an unprecedented, 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays, in the process clinching a Commonwealth Conference Tournament berth for Messiah. Brown's home run — which came with the Falcons one strike away from defeat — capped a miraculous rally for a Messiah ballclub that absolutely refused to lose this game.
The Falcons entered their final chance in the ninth inning down by three runs against the Jays (11-14, 4-6) with the bottom of the order coming up, a seemingly hopeless situation for a Messiah team that hadn't been able to generate much offense on the day.
Senior Jamie Scott got on base with a walk, though, working the count against E'Town reliever Todd Leister. Freshman Jacob Sprengle grounded into a fielder's choice, taking Scott's place at first base. Sophomore Drew Frankenfield worked a one-out walk to put the tying run on base, and junior John Brubaker drove a fly ball to right field, but it was hauled in for the second out.
With the Falcons an out away from defeat, junior Wes Hollenbach fell into a quick 0-2 hole, fouled off several pitches to stay alive, and lifted a little blooper into shallow right field. The ball dropped inches in front of the diving glove that would have ended the game, plating Sprengle with a run and sending Frankenfield to second base.
That brought up the potential game-winning run in Brown, who came up with two outs, two on, and his team down by two runs. The junior captain for the Falcons locked into a duel early on, fouling off several pitches to stay alive. With a 1-2 count, Brown turned on a middle-in fastball and blasted the biggest hit of the season for the Falcons, sending the Messiah crowd and dugout into pure euphoria. The home run, hit to left field, officially clinched a league playoff spot for a Messiah team that has now won 13 of its last 16 games.
“Our young men didn't give up, even though they were outexecuted, outplayed and outcoached early on,” said Steve DeRiggs, Messiah head coach. “They continued to battle and instead of just wishing to win, they actually won.”
It was the second walk-off hit in five games for Brown, who hit a bases-loaded, RBI single in the bottom of the last inning in a 6-5 win over Widener University Monday. Brown has now batted six times this year as the potential tying or go-ahead run in the last inning: He's 5-6 with a double, home run and seven RBI in those situations.
Senior Josh Hershberger (1-0), who entered the game in the top of the ninth inning on the mound, picked up the win in relief.
The Falcons, who trailed for most of the game, actually took an early 1-0 lead in what was initially a pitcher's duel.
Senior Jordan Snader reached on a two-base error in the second inning, advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt and scored on classmate Sean Hart's RBI single to left field.
Senior Travis Thome of the Falcons and Wayne Leonard of the Jays locked into a scoreless battle early on, with Messiah's only run coming courtesy of a two-base error.
Thome, who needs to make just one more appearance to tie the Messiah career record for games by a pitcher, escaped his way out of several potential jams, stranding a runner at third base in both the first and second inning.
Thome pitched effectively through the sixth inning, but he wasn't helped by a Messiah error in each of his final three innings on the mound. Thome pitched into the seventh frame, allowing four runs, but just two of them earned. He walked just one and struck out four, leaving with a 4-1 deficit in the top half of the seventh inning.
“Thome gives us everything he's got,” DeRiggs said. “We didn't support him offensively or play well behind him defensively. I can't say enough about how much Thome means to us. Even after he came out of the game, he was still very supportive of his team from the dugout.”
Junior Zach Adams entered the game in relief and effectively closed the door on the Jays. Adams, who inherited a two-on, no-out situation, got an out on a sacrifice bunt, before inducing a ground ball out at the plate, and a strikeout swinging with the bases loaded to end the inning.
The Falcons' offense struck big in the bottom of the stanza, as Scott provided the biggest at-bat of the game at that point. With one out and one on base, he crushed a fastball over the right-center field fence, cutting the Messiah deficit to just one run.
“Scott's homer was very important for us,” DeRiggs said. “We were dead in the water before he hit it, and it gave us the spark we needed to eventually win this game.”
Adams came back out to the mound in the eighth inning, keeping the Falcons down by just one run. Hershberger pitched the ninth inning, and while a pair of Messiah errors put two more runs on the board for E'Town, the Falcons' bullpen combined for three innings pitched, just one walk, three strikeouts and no earned runs.
For Adams, it was his 10th appearance this season. He hasn't given up an earned run in the last eight of those, totaling 10 and two-thirds consecutive innings. It was Hershberger's sixth straight appearance without giving up an earned run. He's totaled five and one-third innings during that stretch, and the duo has combined for 16 consecutive appearances without giving up an earned run.
“It's always important to know the bullpen will be good, especially in conference games,” DeRiggs said. “They've really hit their stride the last two weeks, and now that we've been getting strong pitching from not only the front end but also the back end, we've been in a lot of games.”
From there was the Falcons' heroic ninth inning, during which each Hollenbach and Brown collected RBI hits with two strikes and two outs.
It was an impressive win for a squad that seemed destined to lose all game — the Falcons made five errors in the field, were outhit 13 to 8, and went 1-10 at the plate with runners in scoring position in the first eight innings.
The game was also special for Messiah, as it was hailed as Senior Day for the Falcons, with the six seniors for the team — Thome, Scott, Eric Spring, Snader, Hart and Hershberger — honored before the game with a brief ceremony. It was fitting that the seniors played a major role in the victory — Thome started the game, Hershberger finished the game and picked up the win, Snader scored the first run for Messiah, Hart collected two hits and a key RB, and Scott came through with a big two-run home run in the seventh inning.
“These seniors have provided leadership and stability this whole season,” DeRiggs said. “They've been here for four years, and I've been here for four years. I know they've certainly helped me, and I hope I've helped them as well. They've had an excellent senior season as an aggregate. Hopefully they will look back at this season and this program as a whole with fond memories.”
In addition to the fine play from the seniors, the bullpen was solid, and Brown led the way offensively for the club. Along with his heroic home run, he added a walk, a single and tagged out two runners at the plate while catching.
The Falcons' win puts the team at 11-2 on the season in conference play; Messiah is now officially guaranteed a playoff spot in the Commonwealth Conference. The Falcons needed a miraculous six-game conference winning streak at the end of last season to sneak into the post-season; the clincher this year was much earlier in the season but just as dramatic.
It's the third playoff trip in four years for the seniors on the team, as the group won the conference title back in '08 and lost to Widener in the semi-finals last year. The Falcons this year have won four conference series thus far in four attempts, and a split in the remaining double-header against E'Town would assure the Falcons five conference series wins in as many attempts.
Messiah scheduled to play Elizabethtown College tomorrow afternoon in an away double-header, weather permitting. The first of these two contests is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.
“It's always an excellent rivalry between these two teams,” DeRiggs said. “They hit a walk-off home run against us a couple of years ago and that was a real dagger. It's very important that we won this game and punched our ticket to the playoffs. We hope to enjoy the rest of the season now that we're officially in, but we do want to keep the pedal to the medal to gear it up for the playoffs.”
