Box Score
by Cody Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Winchester, VA - The Messiah Falcons (11-20) lost an absolute heartbreaker to the Shenandoah Hornets (27-10) on Tuesday afternoon, falling by a 9-8 score in 11 innings. The game featured one of the strangest plays you'll ever see, as a heads-up play from sophomore
Jacob Sprengle nullified what appeared to be a walkoff hit by Shenandoah in the bottom of the tenth inning. Given another chance though, Messiah lost in the eleventh frame, ending its five-game winning streak in the process.
“We played 11 innings against a quality opponent, and we just got nosed out,” Messiah head coach Steve DeRiggs said. “We hit the ball well, we ran well, we caught the ball, and we really played our hearts out. I wish we would have gotten a better fate than we did today.”
The Falcons never trailed until the final play and held leads of 5-0 and 8-5 during the game but went to extra innings when the Hornets rallied to tie the game late. Senior pitcher
Zach Adams faced a jam with runners on first and second base and one away in the bottom of the tenth inning. Hornets batter Cory Nelson hit a line drive just fair down the left field line, driving in teammate Christian Frey for what should have been the game-winning run.
In an extremely alert move, Sprengle fielded the cutoff throw and tagged Frey for failing to touch home plate, amidst a swarm of Shenandoah players celebrating the win. The out led to a long conference between the umps before runners were placed at second and third base with two outs. Adams was able to induce a ground ball to escape the jam, and the Falcons lived another inning.
Unfortunately, the Messiah bats – which went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts in extra innings – couldn't pick up a run and the Hornets won it in the bottom of the final inning against Falcons reliever
Davin Okerblom (1-3). Okerblom gave up a leadoff single, then was forced to issue an intentional walk after a one-out wild pitch put the lead runner on third base. Against an infield hoping to turn a double play, Hornets pinch-hitter Nick Beall blooped a shallow single to center field to win the game for Shenandoah.
Messiah had started the game on fire offensively, putting up a four-spot in the first inning behind four singles and two errors. Freshman
Zach Brubaker highlighted the rally with a clutch two-out single that drove in two runs. Another run in the second inning gave Messiah a 5-0 lead, this one scored by sophomore
Jon Lapp on senior
Ryan Brown's double.
The Hornets rebounded for four runs in the second inning against Falcons starter
Paul Mellinger, making it a 5-4 game. The Falcons answered back with a run of their own in the top of the third inning, as freshmen
Jon Heisey and Z.Brubaker singled, and junior
Matt Turman hit a sacrifice fly to score Heisey.
Shenandoah again cut the deficit to just one run with a score in the bottom of the third inning to make it a 6-5 game through just three frames. Lapp drove in two on an opposite-field triple with two outs that extended Messiah's lead to 8-5.
After freshman
Drew Mininger threw 2.2 scoreless innings on the mound, the Hornets scored three runs off junior pitcher
Galen Halteman to make it an 8-8 game heading into the ninth inning. Messiah put two men on base with one out but couldn't send them home; from that point on, the Falcons went 0-for-8 hitting. In fact, after senior
Wes Hollenbach's one-out double in the sixth inning, Messiah went just 1-for-17 at the plate with five strikeouts.
The Hornets nearly won the game against Adams in that crazy tenth inning, putting up two singles and two walks but coming literally inches away from walking off with a win. In the tenth inning, the Hornets finally won it against a Messiah bullpen that pitched 8.1 innings on the day.
Adams highlighted the bunch, going 2.1 scoreless innings in a high-leverage situation, and Mininger also fared well in his middle relief stint.
Offensively, Hollenbach went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and a walk, scoring one run and driving in one. Lapp collected two hits, scored two runs, and drove in two runs on his triple. Heisey singled and scored twice, and Z.Brubaker singled twice and drove in a run.
Messiah returns home to host Susquahanna University on Wednesday. Game time for the contest is slated for 3:30 p.m.
