Box Score
by Zach Specht, GoMessiah.com reporter
Gettysburg, PA- Messiah College's offense went cold after a three-run third inning Wednesday afternoon as the Falcons fell to the Bullets 12-4.
The Falcons squared off against the Bullets for the first time since 2001 and lost to Gettysburg for the first time since 1993.
The Falcons featured 18 different batters in the contest and were led by
Joseph Saufley who finished the afternoon with one hit and two runs scored.
Al Posch paved the way for Gettysburg as he finished 3-for-4 with three runs while extended his current hitting streak to now 25 games.
After falling into a 4-0 hole, the Falcons would produce some offense in the third.
Jeremiah Eaton would connect on a RBI single to left field to score the Falcons first run. Messiah would then capitalize on two RBI walks later in the inning to draw within one run.
The Bullets scored early and often against Messiah as Gettysburg assembled eight runs over the fourth and fifth innings to build a 12-3 lead.
Messiah would tack on one more run in the top of the seventh inning as
Joseph Saufley crossed home plate after a fielding error by the Bullets' first baseman.
With the loss, Messiah concludes the season with a 15-23 record while finishing 11-10 in the Commonwealth. The Falcons put together a 6-16 record in the first leg of the season, while righting the ship to close the season 9-7 and narrowly missing a postseason bid.
As the Falcons saw their season come to a close, one player etched his name into the record books. After nine innings of play on Wednesday afternoon,
Matthew Fenton finished the game having played all nine positions for the Falcons. Fenton started the contest in right field before positioning to left field, center field, first base, third base, second base and shortstop in the same inning, pitcher, and finally finished behind home plate at catcher.
Fenton joins elite company among the baseball community as only the fourth player in Division III to play all nine positions within one game. Furthermore, this accomplishment has only been achieved four times in the MLB with the most recent being Shane Halter for the Detroit Tigers in 2000.
