Game 1 Box Score - Game 2 Box Score
By Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Harrisburg, PA —A special pre-arranged agreement with the Harrisburg Senators gave the Messiah College Falcons the opportunity to play a Saturday doubleheader at the Senators' Metro Bank Park against conference rival Lebanon Valley College.
Messiah (13-12, 7-1) won the first game in walk-off fashion, as sophomore Paul Mellinger delivered a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning that handed the Falcons a heroic 5-4 comeback win. Unfortunately, a multitude of errors in the second game proved costly for the Falcons, who saw their nine-game winning streak and perfect Commonwealth Conference record end with a 3-4 defeat.
“It's always exciting to come from behind with a walk-off win,” said Steve DeRiggs, head coach of Messiah's baseball team. “We were hoping for the same thing in the second game but we came up a little short.”
The Falcons, who entered the bottom of the last inning in the first game down 4-3, put together a big rally. Freshman Jon Lapp started the rally when he walked and swiped second base. Senior Sean Hart walked to put the winning run on base and junior John Brubaker sent Lapp to third base with a fly out to right field.
Junior Wes Hollenbach's single through the infield scored Lapp and tied the game. Classmate Ryan Brown hit an infield single to load the bases and Mellinger crushed a ball to right center field to win it.
It was the Falcons' ninth straight win, improving the team to 7-0 in conference play.
Senior pitcher Eric Spring, who had received the start on the mound, worked into the sixth inning, allowing just two runs on five hits. Spring added five strikeouts and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning by inducing a groundball out.
“Eric had good stuff today,” DeRiggs said. “He needs to work on his command a little but there is no doubt that when his stuff is on, he has the ability to dominate.”
The Dutchmen scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning before Falcons' reliever, junior Zach Adams, came in and closed out the inning. Adams (2-1) picked up the win when the Falcons scored two in the bottom of the seventh to seal the victory.
Early into Game Two, things seemed to be going Messiah's way as junior Tory Arnesen put together a solid performance keeping the Dutchmen off the board through four innings. The Falcon's plated three runs to take a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning.
Defensive miscues played a hand in the Dutchmen's four late runs, as the Falcons committed three errors, one in each of the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. A late Messiah rally fell short in the bottom of the seventh when sophomore Drew Frankenfield – who singled and stole second with two outs – was stranded.
Arnesen (3-2) pitched all seven innings, going the distance for the third time this season. He allowed just one earned run and displayed excellent control, walking a single batter.
“Tory was very good for us on the mound, and he deserved a far better fate than what he got,” DeRiggs said. “He pitched well enough to win the game.”
Arnesen, who leads the team in ERA (1.12), has now allowed just two earned runs combined in his last three starts.
The Falcons' offense scored just three runs in the second contest and couldn't overcome costly errors late in the game. Brubaker drove in the first run on an RBI double and senior Sean Hart followed with a two-out, two-run single.
From there, the Falcons couldn't register another run, stranding runners in scoring position in both the fifth and seventh innings.
“We had defensive lapses throughout the second game and a chance to blow out a bigger lead and we just couldn't do it,” DeRiggs said. “With runners in scoring position, we didn't come through and we allowed them to come back.”
Messiah plays LVC again on Monday, a continuation of its three-game conference series with the school, at 3:30 p.m. The game will be played at the Dutchmen's McGill Field in Annville, PA.
“This will be their ace against our senior captain Travis Thome,” DeRiggs said. “Thome has pitched in many important games for us this year and I am interested to see what he can do.”
