GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah baseball team struggled to get the offense going in a 5-3 setback against the Penn State Mont Alto Nittany Lions on a chilly and breezy Tuesday afternoon. The Falcons were first on the board in the bottom of the second, but Nittany Lions scored five-straight runs between the third and seventh innings to take a 5-1 lead. Two Messiah runs in the bottom of the seventh brought the Falcons within two at 5-3, but Messiah left three runners on base in the eighth and ninth and fell by the 5-3 final.
 
The Falcons got on the board in the bottom of the second with a Thomas Zeigler sacrifice fly, driving home Evan Wagaman, who reached on a walk earlier in the frame. Wagaman stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before trotting home on the sac fly to left center.
 
Mont Alto tied things up right away in the top of the third with a failed pickoff to second base trickling into centerfield. The Nittany Lions stranded two runners as Messiah starter Chris Beatty limited the damage in the frame.
 
The game remained tied at 1-1 into the sixth inning when Mont Alto scored two runs on just one hit, taking advantage of a walk and hit-by pitch to score their runs on a single to center and a squeeze bunt. After taking a 3-1 lead, the Nittany Lions added two more runs in the seventh on just one hit once again. This time a throwing error on a bunt and a wild pitch allowed the pair to score, increasing their lead to 5-1.
 
The Falcons got back on the board in the bottom of the frame with a sacrifice fly from Joshua Ammons and a line-drive double by Evan Wagaman to the right-centerfield gap. In the frame, Messiah collected three hits with Josh Jacob and Dustin Isanogle setting the table with back-to-back singles to begin the inning.
 
Over the final two frames, Messiah threatened with a lead-off walk in the eight that was later stranded and two singles in the ninth that could not be pushed across the plate. Mont Alto closed out the game with a fielder's choice to the shortstop that stepped on the bag to give the Nittany Lions a 5-3 victory.
 
With the setback, Messiah falls to 16-17-1 on the season and will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Drew Rangers at 12:00 p.m. in a non-conference doubleheader.