SALISBURY, Md. – The Messiah University Falcons finished the rain delayed game against Salisbury and a double-header against The University of Rochester on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons dropped the rain delayed game 4-2 against Salisbury. The Falcons then split the two games against University of Rochester in the final two games. In the 4-1 win, the Falcons were led by Alexa Burger, Allie Book, and Jaden Keister, who each finished with two hits. Maggie Chinnadurai earned the win with four innings of relief with only one hit allowed, one walk, and strikeout, while allowing no runs to score. The Falcons fell 9-0 in game two against Rochester in five innings.
 
Up next, the Falcons host the Saints of Marymount in a double-header on Wednesday, Feb. 28 starting at 1:30 p.m.
 
Game One – Salisbury 4, Messiah 2
The Falcons opened the top half of the first looking to score some early runs. Alexa Burger, Hannah Dyer, and Ellie Litwin all recorded singles to give the Falcons the bases loaded with no outs. The Sea Gulls then got two straight fielder's choices to home to avoid any runs from scoring and then a pop out in foul territory to first base got the Sea Gulls out of the jam with the game still scoreless.
 
After some scoreless frames, the Sea Gulls looked to get on the board in the bottom of the second. With one out, the Sea Gulls reached on a double to left field, but the next batter lined into a double play to center and Lydia Collison was able to keep the game scoreless after two innings.
 
In the top of the third, Alexa Burger led off the inning with a double to deep left center field. Hannah Dyer then moved Burger over to third with a sac bunt, but the Falcons lined out to third and popped out to left field to end the scoring threat for Messiah. In the bottom half of the third the Sea Gulls led off the inning with a single, but the Falcons got the next three batters out to keep the game tied at zero headed into the fourth.
 
In the top of the fourth, Allie Book led off the inning with a line drive single into right field. McKenzie Shannon then moved Book over to second with a sac bunt and Jaden Keister followed that with a single into left field to put runners on the corners with one out. Ali Wagner then hit a shallow fly ball into left field and then the Sea Gulls left fielder threw out the Falcons tag up attempt to keep the game at a scoreless tie. The Sea Gulls scored a run in the bottom of the fourth off a triple and then an RBI single, but Lydia Collison limited the damage to just one run.
 
The Falcons continued to get runners on base in the top of the fifth. After a leadoff lineout, Alexa Burger walked and then stole second. Hannah Dyer then reached base on a hit by pitch to give the Falcons runners on first and second with one out. The Falcons then double stole second and third and Elianna Litwin walked to load the bases with one out. After a pop out to second, Allie Book then drove a line drive base hit into center field with two runners scoring to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth the Sea Gulls took back the lead with a two-run home run. After a rain delay that made the game be resumed on Saturday morning, the Falcons got out of the bottom of the fifth without any more runs scored.
 
The Falcons led off the top of sixth with a double from Jaden Keister to give the Falcons a runner in scoring position with no outs. After a pop out, Paige Eakes doubled, but the Falcons runner was thrown out at home and the Falcons remained down one, but still had a runner on second. The top half of the sixth ended though with a fielder's choice to second base to keep the Sea Gulls up 3-2. The Sea Gulls added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with a two out double.
 
The Falcons looked to start a rally with one out with a Kandice Schlabach single. Then the Falcons lined into a double play to short and the Falcons fell 4-2 in the opening game of the day.
 
Alexa Burger, Allie Book, and Jaden Keister each led the Falcons with two hits. Burger also added in two walks to reach base four times in the game. Lydia Collison pitched all six innings with four earned runs, on nine hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.
 
 
Game Two – Messiah 4, Rochester 1
The Falcons started the game going down in order in the top of the first. Rochester did some damage in the bottom half of the first with a one out solo home run to give Rochester an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Messiah offense did not get going until the top of the third when Brielle Rosario singled with one out. Paige Eakes followed the single with a double that scored Rosario and then Eakes got to third on a throwing error. Alexa Burger then grounded out to second scoring Eakes from third to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead.
 
The Falcons continued to put pressure on the Yellowjackets defense with Elianna Litwin leading off the top of the fourth with an error by the shortstop. After a fielder's choice from Kandice Schlabach, McKenzie Shannon hit a single into right field to put runners on the corner with two outs. Jaden Keister was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but the Falcons lined out to the pitcher to end the top half of the fourth still up 2-1.
 
The Falcons looked to add some insurance runs in the top of the sixth. With two outs McKenzie Shannon and Jaden Keister each singled for the Falcons and Messiah had runners on the corners with two outs. The Falcons though flew out to center and the score remained 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
After the Falcons worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the sixth, the Falcons offense looked to add to their lead in the final inning. After the Falcons got two outs on a line out and ground out, they looked for a rally. Hannah Dyer walked and then Elianna Litwin single to short to put runners on first and second. After a Kandice Schlabach walk to load the bases, Rebekah Wiley hit a pinch-hit single to first base to extend the Falcons lead to 3-1. Then Elianna Litwin scored for the Falcons on a wild pitch, but the Yellowjackets escaped the jam with a flyout to right.
 
The Falcons worked around a leadoff single to get the 4-1 win. McKenzie Shannon led the Falcons with two hits and a walk. Rebekah Wiley had a huge pinch-hit RBI single to help the Falcons extend their lead. Lydia Collison started for the Falcons and went three innings with one earned run on a hit, two walks, and had two strikeouts. Maggie Chinnadurai earned the win with four innings of relief with only one hit allowed, one walk, and strikeout, while allowing no runs to score.
 
Game Three – Rochester 9, Messiah 0
In the top of the first the Yellowjackets looked to get on the board early. They scored a run on a RBI single, but the Falcons limited the damage to just one run.
 
For the next couple at-bats, both teams did not have any threats, until the Yellowjackets offense exploded in the top of the third. Rochester scored eight runs of five hits, including a three-run home run that gave the Yellowjackets their 9-0 lead.
 
The Falcons looked to fight back in the bottom of the third with a Brielle Rosario double down the left field line to lead off the inning. Paige Eakes and Alexa Burger each walked to load the bases, but then the Falcons went down in order to keep the Yellowjackets up 9-0.
 
The Falcons once again threatened in the bottom of the fourth with an Allie Book single to lead off the inning. After a pop out, Jaden Keister singled and the Falcons had runners on first and second with only one out. After a fielder's choice that allowed the runners to advance to second and third, the Falcons grounded out to end the inning.
 
In the bottom of the fifth the Falcons looked for chance to keep the game going. Elianna Litwin single with two outs, but the Yellowjackets forced a foul out to end the game with a 9-0 win for Rochester.
 
Allie Book led the Falcons with a hit and walk. Kelli Durban earned the start and gave up five earned runs on four hits, two walks, and a strikeout. Maggie Chinnadurai pitched three innings in relief with four earned runs on five hits, a walk, and a strikeout.
 
Next
The Falcons host the Saints of Marymount in a double-header on Wednesday, Feb. 28 starting at 1:30 p.m.