Grantham, PA – Messiah College traded blows with Lebanon Valley early but fell behind in an 8-6 loss at home on Friday afternoon. The Dutchmen scored three runs in the sixth inning to take a 7-5 lead, and they tacked on an insurance run in the eighth en route to the victory.
 
The Falcons' best chance at a rally came when they loaded the bases in the eighth inning with one out with two singles and a hit by pitch. But Kyle Schoen popped up on the infield, and Kyle Wickenheiser then struck out swinging to end the threat and keep the score 8-6.
 
Messiah had one final chance to tie in their final at-bat when Josh Good (single) and Ryan Adamus (hit by pitch) reached base. With two down Ben Sollenberger stepped to the plate but he lined out to the first baseman for the final out.
 
The opening frame started out in favor of the Dutchmen when the first four batters reached base safely to drive home the first run on an RBI single. The Dutchmen added two more runs on a single to center and an infield single to take a 3-0 lead after the top half of the first. Messiah came roaring back in the bottom of the second with four runs. The Falcons loaded the bases with none away before Andrew Eyster executed a perfect squeeze bunt that scored the first Messiah run and placed him on first base with a hit. A sacrifice fly, an executed first and third play, and a wild pitch scored the next three runs and gave Messiah their first lead of the game at 4-3 heading to the third.
 
Lebanon Valley tied the game at 4-4 in the third with a two-out RBI single by Zach Smith.
 
The score remained tied until the bottom of the fifth, when the Falcons took back the lead with a Sam Stewart sacrifice fly to score Kyle Wickenheiser.
 
As mentioned, the Dutchmen took the lead with a three-run sixth. They scored on a groundout and back-to-back doubles. Messiah closed the gap with a single run in the sixth but they could not get any closer as the Dutchmen added an insurance run in the eighth give Lebanon Valley the 8-6 victory.
 
Zach Luman started for the Falcons and went 5.1 innings. He gave up 10 hits and six earned runs along with three walks. Drew Betz relieved for the final 2.2 frames and gave up four hits and two more earned runs.
 
Five different Dutchmen collected at least two hits, with Brett Fundell, Marshall Kiessling, and Zach Smith each collecting two RBI.
 
Josh Good collected his second four-hit game of the season going 4-5 at the dish on the afternoon. Joseph Saufley (3-4) and Ben Sollenberger (2-5) each collected multi-hit games as well. In total Messiah had 13 hits on the afternoon; all 13 hits were singles.
 
Kyle Wickenheiser supplied the leather with two tremendous plays at third base. In the fifth he made a backhanded play down the line and made the throw to first from foul territory. In the very next inning, Wickenheiser made a diving play to his glove side before standing up and making a perfect throw to first for the second out of the inning.
 
Messiah and Lebanon Valley will continue their three-game series on Sunday when the Falcons travel to Annville for a 1:00 p.m. double-header.