Reading, PA - The Messiah Falcons completed the three game sweep over the Albright Lions with a thrilling 8-1 victory over the Albright Lions on Monday evening. Messiah College scored seven runs in the 10th inning after the Lions tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the ninth. The win pushed Messiah over .500 (9-8) for the first time this season and also moved them to 3-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.

The Falcons struck first with a single run in the top of the first. Ben Sollenberger singled to third to lead off the inning and stole second before moving to third on a single by Adam Janney. On a first and third play the runner at first was picked off but Sollenberger scampered home to give Messiah the 1-0 lead. The Falcons loaded the bases with one away, but a strikeout and ground out ended the inning without any further damage.

Zach Luman was called on for the start for the Falcons and was masterful. Luman got through the first 4.2 innings without allowing a hit before a single down the left field line broke up the no-no. In total Luman pitched 8.2 of three hit baseball, allowing just one unearned run. As mentioned, that run came across in the bottom of the ninth on an error with two away. The unearned run tied the game and sent the contest to extras.

In extra innings the Falcons' offense came alive, Colin Fry collected the game-winning RBI in the 10th with a single through the right side that scored Adam Janney. That made it 2-1, and it was 8-1 when Fry came up again and grounded out to end the frame. Joseph Saufley picked up two hits and an RBI in the frame, and Kyle Schoen provided a two-run single that blew the game open.

In Luman's 8.2 innings he allowed just three hits and an unearned run against 10 strikeouts and zero walks. Luman started the ninth inning and collected his final strikeout before hitting a batter. He then induced a groundout as the runner moved into scoring position, and he appeared poised to finish the shutout with a line drive to centerfield. But an error on running attempt by Andrew Eyster allowed the tying run to come home, and soon the game went to the 10th inning.

Messiah collected 12 hits in the win, with Sollenberger, Saufley, Fry, Schoen, and Eyster each collecting two hits.

Luman is the second-straight pitcher to collect double-digit strikeouts following John Griffitts' 14-strikeout, complete-game gem on Saturday. Across the Falcons' three-game sweep of the Lion, Messiah pitchers collected 32 strikeouts accounting for 44.4% of all outs recorded.