Grantham, PA - The Messiah and McDaniel baseball game on Wednesday afternoon had a little bit of everything. Each team held leads of five-plus runs at one point in the game but it was the Green Terror that came out on top thanks to 11 unanswered runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings that led to the 17-11 victory.
The Greer Terror scored a single run in the first before Messiah countered with the long ball in the bottom of the frame, launching two homers to take a 3-1 lead.
Ben Sollenberger started the bottom of the first with an opposite field home run on the second pitch he saw. Just a couple batters later,
Kyle Wickenheiser went deep to left centerfield with
Colin Fry aboard to give Messiah the 3-1 lead.
The Green Terror immediately countered with two runs in the second to tie the game at 3-3. Messiah then scored three runs in the third on RBI singles by Wickenheiser and
Jon Mullin and a fielder's choice by
Josh Hayner.
Much like the second, McDaniel countered to tie the score yet again in the top of the fourth. A two-RBI double by Windsch was the big blow in the inning, Windsch later came around to score on a sacrifice fly, tying the game at 6-6.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Falcons took advantage of some sloppy play by the Green Terror and scored five runs on three hits and three errors.
Austin Mellinger (single), Wickenheiser (single), and Mullin (double) collected the hits in the inning for the Falcons.
The Green Terror regrouped after the fourth and allowed just two hits and a total of three base runners over the final five frames.
After a scoreless fifth, Messiah held an 11-6 lead heading into the sixth. McDaniel scored 11 runs over the next three innings to take a 17-11 lead. The Green Terror went deep three times in the three-inning stretch, including back-to-back bombs by Marty Windisch and Cameron Bahr in the seventh that gave them the lead for good.
As mentioned, the Falcons were held in check over the second-half of the game and the Green Terror came away with the 17-11 victory.
For McDaniel, it was Marty Windisch who led the charge. Windisch entered the game slashing .500/.594/.700, and increased those numbers by going 4-5 at the plate with two doubles, a triple, and a two-run home run. He collected six RBIs and scored four runs of his own to pace the Green Terror. He finished just a single shy of the cycle.
For Messiah, Wickenheiser, Mullin, and
Joseph Saufley each had three hits. Mullin smacked two doubles in the loss, while Wickenheiser and Sollenberger each went yard.
The loss moves the Falcons back to .500 (9-9), while the win improves the Green Terror to 15-1 on the season. Messiah will next take the field tomorrow afternoon when they host the Alvernia Crusaders at 3:30 p.m.
