ANNVILLE, Pa. - The Messiah baseball team dropped a 4-3 decision against the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen on Friday night to begin a three-game weekend series. Messiah held a 3-0 lead after six innings of play, but a late comeback from the Dutchmen gave Lebanon Valley the 4-3 victory. Ethan Hurd put the Dutchmen ahead in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out, two-run double that was the difference in the game.

Ryan Hentschel led the Messiah offense with a pair of hits while also driving home two runs in the game.

Kyle Kingsbury went the distance on the mound for the Dutchmen, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out six.

Messiah's Jordan Nichols was no decisioned in the game after tossing 6.1 innings of one-run ball on three hits and four walks, while striking out six.

Falcons Take the Lead
Messiah wasted little time getting on the board in the top of the first. Trent Culver yanked a double down the left field line on a 2-2 pitch to put the leadoff man on second. A Ryan Hentschel infield single followed and an error allowed Culver to come around to score.

Just five pitches into the game, Messiah held a 1-0 lead. That advantage would hold into the sixth were the Falcons would plate a pair to boost their lead to 3-0. Trey Prichard and Culver walked with one out to put two Falcons on base. After an errant pick-off attempt moved the pair into scoring position, Hentschel delivered a single to the right-centerfield gap scoring both runners and giving Messiah the 3-0 lead.

Pitcher's Dual
After Messiah took the early lead in the first, the game turned into a pitcher's dual with Messiah Nichols and LVC's Kingsbury trading zeros in the second, third, fourth, and fifth. Nichols no-hit the Dutchmen for the first four frames of the game before a one-out double in the fifth broke up the no-no bid. Nichols pitched into the seventh with just one run charged to his name on three hits. He struck out six in the game.

Kingsbury kept up with Nichols and after weathering the two-run sixth was lights out for the final three frames, allowing just one Messiah hit. The sophomore righty hurled a complete-game, needing 115 pitches to earn his third win of the year. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks, while striking out six.

Dutchmen Comeback
With Kingsbury keeping the Dutchmen in the game, Lebanon Valley rallied for a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth to take the win. Messiah walked the bases loaded with one out in the seventh before a fourth walk brought home the first run of the game for LVC. The Falcons escaped further damage in the frame with a comebacker to the mound that Messiah turned into two outs.

In the eighth, a leadoff walk and double put two Dutchmen in scoring position. A single through the left-side made it a 3-2 game and later in the inning a two-out double by LVC's Ethan Hurd plated two runs to give the Dutchmen the lead at 4-3.

Messiah went down in order in the ninth and the Dutchmen claimed the comeback victory.  

What's Up Next
Messiah and Lebanon Valley will wrap-up their three-game conference series with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Messiah beginning at 12:00p.m.