Grantham, PA - The Messiah baseball team swept the visiting Albright Lions in their first conference doubleheader of the season. Messiah won Game One by a 7-3 final. Home runs from Colin Fry and Sam Stewart highlighted the offensive effort while Steven Ridings earned the win with a complete game, striking out eight batters in the process.

In Game Two the Falcons were carried by the tremendous effort from starter John Griffitts in a 6-0 victory. Griffitts collected 14 strikeouts over the seven inning complete game. Kyle Schoen hammered a two-run homer in the bottom of the first down the leftfield line to lead the offense in Game Two. Colin Fry also brought home two runs in the contest.

In Game One, Fry (third inning) and Stewart (fourth inning) each hit solo blasts to lead off a frame, and Stewart added a two-run single in the sixth to put Messiah up 7-3. He went 2-3 in the game with four RBI. Kyle Schoen went 3-3 at the plate with two RBI.

Messiah built a 2-0 lead after two innings but Albright rallied to tie the game in the fourth. After Fry's home run to left in the third, Albright again rallied with a single run in the fourth to make it 3-3. Stewart's long ball-- also to left field-- in the fourth gave the Falcons the lead for good.
 
The Falcons picked up the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. Fry led off the inning with a walk and came around to score on a Schoen single through the right side. Schoen later touched the plate on a groundout by Stewart with one away.
 
As mentioned, the Lions came back to tie the game with two runs in the fourth on a pair of two-out singles but the Falcons wasted no time taking the lead back with a leadoff homer by Fry in the bottom of the frame.
 
In the fifth the Lions struck with another two-out single to tie the game at 3-3. Yet again, the Falcons countered with a home run on the first pitch of the inning. This time it was Stewart that did the damage with a swat to left center for the solo shot.
 
Leading 4-3, the Falcons added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Schoen knocked home a run with a bases loaded single and Stewart drove home the other two, two batters later.
 
Steven Ridings shut down the Lions in the top of the seventh with a one-two-three inning to give Messiah the 7-3 MAC Commonwealth victory.

In Game Two, Griffitts was dominant on the bump. Griffitts struck out 14 batters (10 looking) and allowed just three base runners in the contest - two infield singles and a walk . The shutout marked both his first career complete game and shutout.

The Falcons scored four quick runs in the first to build an early lead for Griffitts. The inning was highlighted by a pair of RBI base hits by Colin Fry (double) and Good (single), before Kyle Schoen capped off the frame with a two-run homer to left.
 
After a scoreless, second, third, and fourth the Falcons struck for a pair of unearned runs in the fifth. Ben Sollenberger scored on an error by the Albright right fielder with two away. The error extended the inning for the Falcons and the very next batter, Colin Fry, delivered a double over the left fielder's head to drive home Saufley and give Messiah the 6-0 advantage.
 
Griffitts struck out the side in the sixth and two more in the seventh to get to his total of 14 fans. In total, Griffitts' 14 strikeouts are the most a Messiah pitcher has collected in a game since Travis Thome collected 14 as well in a nine inning contest against Spalding University on Mar. 14, 2011, a 5-2 Messiah victory.
 
On the day, Colin Fry (3-3, 2B, HR, 4R, 3RBI, 2BB), Kyle Schoen (4-6, HR, 4RBI, 2R), and Sam Stewart (3-6, HR, R, 4RBI) led the offensive with tremendous days at the plate.
 
Between Ridings and Griffitts the Falcons struck out 22 batters, accounting for over half of the outs Messiah recorded on the afternoon (52.4%).
 
Messiah will travel to Reading on Monday afternoon looking for a conference-opening sweep when they take on these same Albright Lions in the finale of the three-game series. Game time set for 3:30 p.m.