Grantham, PA - With two outs and runners on second and third, Ryan Adamus delivered a game-winning, walk-off double to deep left to give the Falcons the 5-4 victory over the Stevenson Mustangs. Messiah trailed 4-2 with no one on and two out in the ninth before a rally by the Falcons tied the game to set up for Adamus' heroics.
 
Just the batter before Adamus, Kyle Schoen delivered a key, two-out, two-strike single through the right side that scored two runs and tied the game. Both Schoen and Adamus went down 0-2 in the count, before battling back to connect for key base hits in the exhilarating rally.
 
Matt Wright picked up his first career win, pitching 0.2 of an inning of scoreless relief.
 
Despite the Falcons' three runs in the ninth, the runs were much more difficult to come by during the first eight innings. Messiah got on the board in the first inning when Kyle Schoen reached on an error by the second baseman. On the play, Joseph Saufley came around from second to score. Saufley had doubled just one pitch earlier.
 
With a 1-0 lead, Messiah starter Zach Luman cruised through the first three frames. Luman allowed a hit in each inning, but hung three zeros on the board to keep the lead.
 
After their early run the Falcons' bats remained quiet as well. Alec Romanowski, Stevenson's starter, faced the minimum in both the second and third. He turned the Falcons away in order in the second and used a double-play ball to work around a runner in the third.
 
In the fourth, both the Mustangs and Falcons got on the board. Being the away team, it was the Mustangs who struck first. With one away and runners on first and second, the Falcons tried to pick behind the runner at first. The throw from the catcher got away allowing the runner from second to score and the runner from first to advance to third. The second run of the inning scored on a swinging bunt on the next batter giving the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.
 
Messiah came right back in the bottom of the fourth with a lead off single by Saufley. Adam Janney followed with a double down the line in left to put runners on second and third. A ground out to short by Josh Good tied the game at 2-2 before a fly out and strikeout ended the inning with Janney stranded on third.
 
After a pair of zeros were put on the board in the fifth, Stevenson score one run in the sixth on a two-out single to right-center to take a 3-2 lead.
 
After the Falcons were retired in order in the sixth, they threated to tie the game in the seventh. With runners on the corners and one away, Messiah tried a squeeze play. Stevenson's third baseman made the underhand flip to the plate and an extremely close play went the Mustangs' way as Jon Mullin was called out on the tag.
 
The play at the plate was not the first controversial call of the game. Earlier a couple of close plays had gone the Falcons' way and in the sixth, Stevenson's head coach, Jason Tawney, was ejected for arguing a caught stealing call at third base that took away the chance at a big inning for the Mustangs.
 
Even after the close play at the plate Messiah loaded the bases but a fielder's choice ended the frame with the Falcons still trailing 3-2.
 
The Mustangs added an insurance run in the ninth with a sacrifice fly to right before Matt Wright was called on to get the final two outs of the frame. Wright relieved Brandon Shirk who pitched 2.1 innings allowing two hits and one unearned run. Wright hit a batter to put runners on the corners before getting a ground out and a strikeout to end the inning with the Falcons trailing 4-2.
 
As mentioned, the Falcons got two quick outs with a pair of fly outs. On the first pitch he saw, Ben Sollenberger got the two-out rally going with a single to right. Adam Janney then hit a dying quail to center that put runners on first and second. Joseph Saufley stepped to the plate as the winning run for the Falcons. Saufley worked the count to full before swining and missing at a pitch in the dirt. With the runners on the move Saufley was able to advance to first despite the strikeout.
 
With the bases now loaded Kyle Schoen quickly fell behind 0-2. Schoen fought off a pitch before smacking a ball through the right side. Sollenberger scored easily but the late-inning defensive replacement for the Mustangs in right, Zachary Tocker, made the play at the plate might close. Janney, who was attempting to score from third, came home just as the ball did. Home plate umpire Rob McClure ruled that Janney's toe caught the plate just before before the tag hit his leg. With the safe call, Messiah had tied the game at 4-4.
 
Like Schoen before him, Ryan Adamus quickly fell behind 0-2 before battling his way to a 1-2 count. Adamus then turned on a pitch and hammered it to deep left. With the outfield playing shallow there was no doubt off the bat that is was a game-winning hit. Saufley came in from third and the Falcons mobbed Adamus in shallow-centerfield.
 
Adamus came in as a pinch-hitter in the eighth and went 2-2 at the dish on the day.
 
The win improves the Falcons to 17-16 on the season and 10-6 in the MAC Commonwealth. Messiah is now over .500 for the first time since Mar. 21 after they completed a three-game sweep of the Albright Lions (9-8).
 
The win is also Messiah's seventh in a row. The seven-game win streak is the longest such streak since a nine-game win streak in 2011 (Mar. 19-Apr. 2).
 
These two teams will be back at it again tomorrow afternoon in Owings Mills, MD when they complete the three-game series with a double-header beginning at 1:00 p.m.