Cabo Rojo, PR – It went all the way to the end, but in the bottom of the ninth the New Jersey City Gothic Knights walked off the Messiah baseball team 6-5. The Gothic Knights scored with their final run on a Messiah error with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
 
The Falcons did all their damage in the contest in the first four innings. Messiah scored five runs across the second, third, and fourth innings, before being shutout across the final five frames.
 
In the second, Colin Fry scored an unearned run on a throwing error to put Messiah on the board first. The top of the third is where Messiah did the majority of their damage. Ben Sollenberger singled through the right side to lead off the inning before Joseph Saufley deposited his second home run of the season over the right field fence. With Messiah leading 3-1, the Falcons strung together three singles to add a third run in the inning. Kyle Schoen hit the last of the three singles up the middle. The base knock brought Fry in from third and gave Messiah a 4-1 lead.
 
In the fourth the Falcons executed a first and third play that allowed Ben Sollenberger to score from third while sacrificing the runner on first.
 
While the Falcons were scoring in the top half of the inning the Gothic Knights were countering in the bottom half of the frame. By the time the top of the fifth rolled around the Falcons held a slight 5-4 lead. The biggest hit for the Gothic Knights came with the Falcons leading 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth. New Jersey City sacrificed runners over to second and third when Nick LoGatto doubled to right center to bring home both runners. The two-RBI double cut the Messiah lead to 5-4.
 
That lead was wiped away in the bottom of the sixth when New Jersey City evened the game at 5-5 with a solo home run to right off the bat of Jeff Reinecke.
 
In the top of the seventh the Falcons put together a two-out rally, loading the bases with a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch, but a fielder's choice ended the threat without denting the scoreboard.
 
In the bottom half of the ninth, the Gothic Knights' Dmitri Ruger singled with two outs. Ruger then stole second and advanced to third on an error. The next batter then reached on an error allowing Ruger to score from third and giving the Gothic Knights the 6-5 victory.
 
Despite not giving up any earned runs, Eric Pisani takes the tough luck loss. Pisani pitched the eighth and ninth and allowed two hits and the unearned run.
 
 At the plate, Ben Sollenberger and Colin Fry each connected for two hits while Joseph Saufley delivered the big fly for two RBI.
 
Messiah will next play this same New Jersey City University team on Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m in what should be a very evenly matched game, if tonight's contest is any indication.

Box Score to follow...