GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah baseball team split a Saturday doubleheader with the Alvernia Golden Wolves. After dropping Game One 14-2, Messiah rebounded for the split with a 9-5 victory in the second game of the double-dip.
 
Despite not playing in Game One, Sam Stewart led the Falcons with three RBI on the day. All three came on one swing of the bat when he cleared the bases in the bottom of the first inning of Game Two with a double to straight-away center field.
 
Messiah moves to 2-9 in the conference and 9-14 overall. The Falcons and Golden Wolves will wrap up their three-game series tomorrow afternoon when Messiah travels to Reading for a single game beginning at 2:30 p.m.
 
Game One: Alvernia defeats Messiah 14-2
The Falcons were first to strike in the bottom of the first, plating a run on a throwing error by the pitcher. Trent Culver led off the inning with a single into left center and then stole second to get into scoring position with no outs. He then moved to third on a fly out and scored when Josh Hayner tapped a ball back to the mound and the pitcher threw the ball down the right field line.  A lineout and a fly out ended the inning, but Messiah held a 1-0 advantage heading to the second.
 
In the third, the Golden Wolves got on the board with four runs on three hits. The big blow in the frame came on a two-out, two-run single by Chris Rieger to give Alvernia a 4-1 advantage. A Golden Wolves sacrifice fly in the fourth made it 5-1 and an awkward play in the fifth allowed two more runs to score. With two outs in the top of the fifth and a pair of runners in scoring position, Avlernia hit a groundball to Jarod Bingaman at short stop. Bingaman charged the ball and threw to first, but the base umpire was in the way. Bingaman's thorw hit the umpire, allowing two runs to score on the play and increase the Golden Wolves' lead to a half dozen at 7-1.
 
Messiah chipped into the lead with a two-out, RBI double from Jimmy Kustra in the bottom of the fifth. Kustra's extra-base hit brought Hunter Brindle home from third after he singled to lead off the inning.
 
After a scoreless sixth inning for both sides, the Golden Wolves took advantage of four walks and scored seven runs on four hits and a Messiah error to take a 14-2 lead.
 
Messiah was held scoreless in the seventh and Alvernia earned the 14-2 victory in Game One.
 
Game Two: Messiah defeats Alvernia 9-5
The Falcons sent eight men to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, scoring four runs, including a three-run double from Sam Stewart. The two-out double to straight-away center, chased Trent Culver, Jarod Bingaman, and Conner Reyer to give Messiah a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Hunter Brindle drove Stewart home on an infield single to give Messiah the 4-0 lead.
 
After the Golden Wolves got on the board with a sacrifice fly in top the second, Messiah scored three more runs in the bottom of the stanza to take a 7-1 advantage. The Falcons took advantage of two Alvernia errors in the inning with Josh Hayner and Conner Reyer delivering RBI in the frame on a single and sacrifice fly, respectively.
 
Messiah plated a single run in both the fourth and fifth innings on an RBI double from Clayton Roberts and a throwing error to put Messiah up by eight at 9-1.
 
The Golden Wolves scored four runs across the sixth and seventh innings, including three runs with two outs in the top of the seventh, but Messiah held on for the 9-5 victory.
 
Ethan Hess nearly went the distance, tossing 6.2 quality innings allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Carson Spangler came on in relief, getting the only batter he faced to groundout to short stop.
 
Four Falcons collected multiple hits in Game Two with Stewart leading the crew with two knocks and three runs driven home.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons and Golden Wolves will complete their three-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. when Messiah travels to Reading. With a win tomorrow, Messiah will claim their first-ever regular season series victory over the Alvernia Golden Wolves. Alvernia has won all nine series against the Falcons, since joining the MAC Commonwealth prior to the 2010 season.