Glenside, PA - The No. 22 Messiah College Falcons swept the Knights of Arcadia University 4-3 and 9-3 Saturday afternoon.

It took nine innings to determine the victor in Game One with the game-winning RBI coming from Brooke Pompeo.

In Game Two, the Falcons took an early 6-0 lead after just two innings of play then added to their lead in the seventh to solidify the 9-3 win.

Game One – Messiah 4, Arcadia 3 (9 innings)
It may have taken extra innings to determine the victor of Game One, yet the Falcons battled and persevered through all nine of them to claim the 4-3 win.
 
The Falcons started the game off strong, posting two runs on two hits in the first inning. Becky Notte and Amanda Jones each singled for the Falcons with Jones and Erin Cressman getting credited with the RBI. Cressman's RBI came on a fielder's choice.
 
The Knights responded in the bottom of the frame, erasing the Falcons' early 2-0 lead. Arcadia matched the Falcons' efforts, scoring two runs on two.
 
The stalemate stood until the top of the fourth when the Falcons broke the tie to go up 3-2.
 
Erin Cressman scored the go-ahead run after drawing a leadoff walk then advanced to second on a passed ball. In the next at-bat, Sydney Boreman laid down a sacrifice bunt, which allowed Cressman to move onto third. With a runner in scoring position, all the Falcons needed was a long fly ball to send the go-ahead run across the plate.
 
Amber Binagman delivered, but to no avail.
 
Bingaman sent a looper behind second base that almost dropped in, but Arcadia's center fielder made an excellent headfirst catch to get the out. With the center fielder on the ground, the Falcons could easily have tug up and scored, but Cressman took too big of a lead and was unable to get back and tag up. Fortunately for the Falcons, Cressman was able to redeem herself when Arcadia's pitcher threw a wild pitch well over her catcher's head. The misfire allowed Cressman to cross the plate with ease, giving the Falcons the 3-2 lead.
 
Arcadia countered in the bottom of the fourth, however, getting two base runners on as a result of an error and a walk.  The next batter laid down a solid bunt and the Falcons attempted to get the lead runner at third, but the throw was too late.  With bases loaded and just one out, Arcadia delivered a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring the equalizer.
 
Neither team was able to break the 3-3 tie in either the sixth or the seventh, forcing extra innings to determine the victor.
 
In the eighth, the Falcons put themselves in scoring position but couldn't get the job done. Following hits from Notte and Cressman, the Falcons were unable to deliver the clutch hit that would have given them the lead.
 
Arcadia never took their foot off the accelerate either, forcing the Falcons' defense to come up big in the bottom of the frame.
The Falcons managed to escape a scary two-on, two-out situation when the Knights had runners on second and third, but Courtney Allen retired the side with a strikeout to get out of the jam.
 
In the top of the ninth, Brooke Pompeo delivered the go-ahead RBI single, scoring Bingaman, who found her way on the base path via a leadoff single up the middle. Pompeo's bunt went to Arcadia's pitcher whose throw to first was mishandled by the first baseman, allowing Bingaman to cross the plate for the 4-3 lead.
 
Allen sealed the victory in the bottom of the ninth, getting the Knights to go down three in a row with a strikeout, ground out, and line out.
 
The Falcons accumulated 10 hits throughout the game with Becky Notte (3-for-4) leading the way. Erin Cressman and Amber Bingaman added two hits a-piece with RBI coming from Pompeo (1), Jones (1), and Cressman (1).
 
With the win, Courtney Allen moves to 9-0 on the season. Through all nine innings of work, she gave up three runs (two earned) on just four hits. She struck out five and walked three.

Game Two – Messiah 9, Arcadia 3
The Falcons took an early 6-0 lead after just two innings then tacked on three more runs in the seventh to bring home the 9-3 win.
 
In the first, Amanda Jones launched a two-run shot over the fence to give Messiah the 3-0 lead. This was her first homerun of the season. Courtney Allen also picked up an RBI in the early frame.
 
In the second inning the Falcons added to their lead, making the most of both their small game, as well as, their big bats.
 
Messiah used a single and two bunts to put runners in scoring position before Pompeo delivered the first run of the inning on a slap to the right side that scored Amanda Petersen. In the next at-bat Courtney Allen went big and drove the ball off the fence in left center for a double, pushing another run across the plate. The Falcons scored their final run of the inning when, with runners on second and third, Amanda Jones hit the ball toward the short stop, who mishandled it, resulting in an error and the third run to score for the Falcons.
 
When all was said and done, the Falcons scored three runs on four hits to claim the 6-0 lead.
 
The score remained unchanged through the next few innings even though the Knights had their chances to change that.
 
In the bottom of both the fourth and fifth innings, Arcadia found themselves with two runners on base with two outs, but the Falcons' starter, Carrie Fix, was able to work her way out of both jams. In the fourth, she got Arcadia's Kayla Resh to fly out to right field for the final out, then forced an infield pop up from Sara Boyadjis to end the fifth unscathed.
 
In the bottom of the sixth the Knights caught up to Fix, however, stringing together three hits to score three runs. In the inning, the Knights hit a single, a triple, and a homerun, forcing the Falcons to make a pitching change. Madelyn Yannetti replaced Fix on the mound and closed out the frame with a ground out and a strikeout to hold the 6-3 advantage.
 
The Falcons responded in the top of the seventh, bringing their lead back to six.
 
Amanda Jones remained hot at the plate, starting things with a lead-off double down the left field line. She was followed by an RBI triple from Cressman, which was her third triple of the season and 17th RBI for the year. The heart of the lineup continued to deliver as Amber Bingaman drilled the ball to third base in the next at-bat. The ball bounced off of the fielder's glove, allowing Cressman to score and Bingaman to be safe at first. The Falcons' final run came on an error by the third baseman.
 
With the 9-3 lead, Yannetti settled in and closed out the game in the bottom of the seventh, forcing the Knights to go three-in, three-out.
 
Four different Falcons (Pompeo, Allen, Jones, and Petersen) had multiple hits in the game with Jones (3), Allen (2), and Pompeo (1) getting credit for RBI.
 
Fix earned the win and moves to 5-1 on the season. In 5.1 innings of work, Fix gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits. She struck out two and walked two. Yannetti threw to just five batters in just 2.1 innings, earning her second save of the season.
 
Next week the Falcons will face three straight non-conference opponents. They will host Dickinson College (Wednesday) and Rutgers-Camden (Thursday) before traveling to Selinsgrove, Pa. on Saturday to take on Susquehanna University.  The mid-week games are slated to begin at 3:00 p.m., while Saturday's double header will start at 1:00 p.m.