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XML Box Score 2 Owings Mills, MD - Messiah split a double-header with Stevenson to push their Commonwealth record to 11-7 and guarantee them a spot in the conference postseason tournament. The Falcons can finish no worse than fourth place and could still move up to as high as first place depending on the results of the final week. Widener (13-5)-- who Messiah will play this weekend-- is currently in first, with Alvernia (12-6) in second and Lebanon Valley (9-9) in fourth. Albright is 8-11, but the Falcons own a tie-breaker with the Lions in the even the two teams finish tied in the standings.
Game One A six run first inning put Stevenson on top early and they never looked back as they defeated Messiah 8-2 in Game One of a Commonwealth double-header.
Jon Lapp started for Messiah and took the loss after completing just 2.2 innings. He allowed nine hits, seven runs (six earned), and two walks with three strikeouts. He faced 20 batters.
The Falcons' bullpen relented just one more run but their deficit was too much to overcome.
Joseph Saufley (groundout) and
Casey Ebersole (double-play groundout) pushed in the Falcons' only two runs.
With the loss Messiah fell to 10-7 in the Commonwealth, still good for third place but not too far ahead of Lebanon Valley (9-9).
Lapp's day went from bad to worse after he failed to retire any of the first seven batters. Six of those first seven batters got a hit, making it 5-0 before a groundout accounted for the first out. An RBI groundout followed before Lapp finally ended the frame with a strikeout of Kevin Wu—Stevenson's 11th batter of the inning.
Messiah threatened in a big way in the third as
David Sletta led off with a double and both
Jon Heisey and
Zach Brubaker followed with singles. With the bases loaded
Joseph Saufley grounded out to bring in a run but
Derek Drake then hit into a double-play to end the threat.
The Falcons went down in order in the fourth and fifth innings, and
Zach Brubaker was stranded at first after a leadoff single in the sixth. In the seventh
Jacob Sprengle (triple) and Joshua Good (hit-by-pitch) both reached based before Ebersole grounded into a double-play and Sletta flew out to center to end the game.
Mitch McClure (2.0 IP) and
Colby Helgerson (1.1 IP) were solid in relief, with Helgerson allowing just a single earned run.
Alex Romanowski completed all seven innings for Stevenson and allowed six hits and no walks. Though he didn't strike out any Falcons, he faced just 26 batters to record all 21 outs.
Game TwoThe Falcons rebounded from their Game One loss in loud fashion, hitting two home runs—include a game-tying grand slam in the fourth inning—to outlast the Mustangs 11-5.
John Griffitts earned the win with 4.1 innings of relief; he allowed a hit and walk against five strikeouts.
Griffitts relieved
Evan Young, who sat down the first six batters he faced before falling prey to a five run third inning. He left with two outs in the frame, with two in and two on. Griffitts promptly served up a three-run run home run to his first batter, but settled down and dominated to the end.
After going down 5-1 after three innings, Messiah fought back immediately in the fourth. With one on and two out
Casey Ebersole doubled and
Jon Mullin walked to loaded the bases.
Jon Heisey then hit a grand slam to left-centerfield to tie the game. It was his first career home run, and could not have come at a better time as the Falcons were in danger of dropping their third-straight game to the Mustangs.
After adding two runs in the sixth, Messiah blew the game open in the seventh with another four runs.
Derek Drake (single) and
Ben Sollenberger (groundout) each collected RBIs, but the big blow was a two-run homerun by
Jacob Sprengle—his third long ball of 2014.
Joseph Saufley doubled in the first inning to put Messiah up 1-0-- their first run against starter Greg Myers in almost 10 innings going back to Thursday's nine-inning shutout.
Messiah (13-13) next plays on Wednesday at Penn. State Harrisburg in a single, non-conference match-up.
