York, PA - The Messiah Falcons opened the MAC Commonwealth tournament with a 10-8 loss at the hands of the Widener Pride on Thursday night. Messiah went up 3-0 early but late runs by the Pride handed Messiah a devastating loss in the opening round. Messiah will now have to battle their way through the losers side of the bracket and win four games to take home their first MAC Commonwealth title since the 2012 season.

Colin Fry opened the scoring in the top of the second with an opposite field home run on an 0-2 pitch. Fry fouled the first two pitches straight back and then hit a high fly ball to right over the high fence to give Messiah the 1-0 lead. Josh Good then doubled to the left center gap and moved up on a Kyle Schoen groundball to the right-side. Jon Mullin then hit a sacrifice fly to right on an 0-2 pitch to score Good from third. With two outs, Austin Pletcher worked a deep count and sent one off the base of the left field wall. Andrew Eyster hit a check-swing back to the pitcher, Eysters speed forced a hustled throw to first and the ball got away, allowing Pletcher to score the third run of the inning.

In the bottom of the second Griffitts worked around a lead off single to strand a runner at third. He emphatically ended the frame with a swining strikeout, one of three punch outs on the night for the Falcons' starter. In the fourth the Pride connected for four runs. The big hit came on a bases clearing triple to deep centerfield. The Pride loaded the bases with no outs and the Messiah outfield was playing extremely shallow. Nick Enos smacked a triple to deep center over the head of Eyster to clear the bases. Enose would later score on a wild pitch to give the Pride the 4-3 lead.

In the fifth, Messiah scored three of runs to take the lead back. Andrew Eyster singled to lead off the inning and later scored on an Adam Janney double. Janney later came around to score on a throwing error by the Widener pitcher attempting to turn a double play at second base. With runners on first and second Josh Good hit a ground ball to the right-side. Colin Fry, the runner on first, attempted to get out of the way of the ball but was then tripped by the Pride first baseman causing a 10 minute delay while the umpires decided the call on the field and then discussed the decision with the Widener head coach. After the play was sorted out, Kyle Schoen hit a check swing ground ball to the second baseman. With Good running from first, he ran into the second baseman and extended his arms to keep the Pride from turning a double play. He was successful as Schoen reached to allow the run to score and continue the inning. This play was again up for discussion between the Widener head coach and the umpiring staff. The play stood and Messiah held a 6-4 lead after the top of the fifth.

In the bottom of the sixth, Widener got on the base pathes with a lead off single. A passed ball and a pair of groundouts allowed the run to score and the Pride closed to within one. Griffitts then induced what looked to be an inning ending pop up but the pop-up was dropped by Janney and the inning continued. The error was followed by a single and a walk to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two down, Griffitts was taken out in favor of reliever Drew Betz. The first pitch Betz threw hit the Widener batter but the umpire ruled that the batter leaned into the pitch and he was kept in the box. Betz fell behind in the count, 2-0 before working the count full and getting a routine fly ball to centerfield to end the frame with Messiah still clinging to a 6-5 lead.

Messiah got a base runner in the seventh off an error in the infield. The runner was erased when Josh Good ripped a ball down the line but it was snagged out of the air by the Pride first baseman and Messiah was doubled off of first base.

In the bottom of the frame, Widener got a runner on with one away. Like the Falcons in the top of the inning, an error allowed the runner to reach first. Colin Fry fielded a ball down the line, but he throw pulled Saufley of the bag and while Saufley got the tag on the runner. The umpire ruled that the tag came late and Widener got on the base paths. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second with two away. The next Widener batter hit a soft line between first and second. Pletcher got the ball with a dive to keep it in the infield, he then threw to first base with the runner rounding third. The throw was late to first and the run scored on the play.

Moments later a ball up the middle was misplayed to put runners on first and second. John Petrongolo then pinch hit and drove a fly ball to deep centerfield. The ball was dropped in centerfield and two runs came around to score with Petrongolo ending up on third. A groundball ended the inning but the damage was done and the Widener took an 8-6 lead.

With a one-out double Jon Mullin got the Falcons going in the eighth. He was stranded on third after a terrific play by the Pride up the middle ended the inning. With two outs, Ryan Adamus pinch hit and sent the first ball he saw back up the middle. It went off the pitchers glove but right to the second baseman who gloved it as he was ranging to his left and fired to first to nab Adamus by a step. The play ended the inning and kept the contest an 8-6 game.

The bottom of the eighth opened with a pair of hit batsmen by Betz. A sacrifice moved the runners into scoring position with one away. The next batter hit a comeback to Betz who made a terrific play to field the ball on the short hop and turned to get the runner off of third. The next batter sent another ball up the middle. This one evaded Betz's glove and went into centerfield scoring two runs and adding some much needed insurance for the Pride.

Heading to the ninth, Messiah trailed 10-6 with the top of the order slated to hit. Ben Sollenberger led off the inning with a single, follow by another single by Adam Janney. A fielder's choice and a strikeout got Messiah down to their final out.

Josh Good hit a ground ball to short that would have ended the game if not for the hustle by Saufley at first. The throw went to second, but Saufley beat it out to extend the game. Kyle Schoen then delivered a single down the left field line to bring home another run and bring Messiah within two runs at 10-8. Jon Mullin stepped to the plate and rocketed a ball the other way, but it was right at the Widener first baseman, who took it to the bag unassisted to end the game.

John Griffitts started for the Falcons and pitched into the sixth inning. He allowed six hits and five runs (all earned) while striking out five. Drew Betz came in relief and was saddled with the loss. His 2.1 innings on the mound is just the sixth time this season that he has pitched more than two innings.

The 10-8 loss drops Messiah into the losers bracket and they will have to face top-seeded Alvernia on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The Crusaders were upset earlier in the evening by Stevenson 6-4.

Forecasted rain for tomorrow has postponed the tournament. All Friday games have been moved to Saturday and the Saturday Championship Game has been moved to Sunday afternoon.