Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior Matt Sanders and freshman Nick Faria combined to throw a three-hitter in the nightcap as the Lebanon Valley College baseball team came away with a split against Messiah College in a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at McGill Park.
Messiah defeated LVC 8-7 in the opener.
Lebanon Valley (5-13, 3-6 CC), which out-hit Messiah (10-14, 3-6 CC) 20-14 over the two games, got outstanding offensive showings from junior leftfielder Dan Kelly, sophomore shortstop John Mentzer, and junior rightfielder Richie Schwartz. Kelly was 5-for-7 while Mentzer went 4-for-7 with three runs scored. Schwartz enjoyed a 3-for-5 day at the plate.
Sanders, making his first appearance in 22 days due to an injury, showed no signs of rust, holding the Falcons hitless over the first four innings. In the first inning, Messiah had runners on first and second with nobody out following a walk and an error, but Sanders settled in to retire the next 11 batters.
The Flying Dutchmen backed Sanders with single runs in the first, third, and fifth innings and in both the first and third, LVC utilized two-out rallies. In the first, freshman centerfielder Bert Malloy and Schwartz worked back-to-back walks before Mentzer singled in Malloy. Then in the third, Malloy reached on an error with two down before Schwartz smashed a double into the left-center gap to plate Malloy from first.
Kelly led off the third with a triple to left-center, then scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly to center from sophomore second baseman Corey Lamoureux.
The Falcons finally got to Sanders with a leadoff single in the fifth, but he retired the next three hitters. Then in the sixth, Messiah got another leadoff single, but two batters later Sanders rolled up an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Messiah refused to go quietly, however, putting runners on the corners with one out following a walk and single. But that's when Faria came in to get a fielder's choice and a groundout to preserve the shutout and earn his first collegiate save.
Ironically, Sanders was involved in LVC's last shutout, a 5-0 win over Albright College on the final day of the 2005 season. Sanders threw a complete-game four-hitter that day.
Sanders (1-1) held Messiah to three hits and two walks while fanning two. Falcon starter Nick Lindner (0-4) went 4 2/3 innings, yielding three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks.
Kelly was 3-for-4 in game two.
In the first game, the Flying Dutchmen scored a run in every inning but the sixth, but it wasn't enough to overcome a Messiah six-run third.
Lebanon Valley scored single runs in the first and second before Messiah's big inning. The Falcons sent eight batters to the plate before an out was recorded, and after four hits, an error, and a hit batsman, it was 4-2. LVC starter Travis Smart got a sacrifice fly to get the first out before an RBI single completed the scoring.
The two teams traded single runs from the bottom of the third through the bottom of the fifth to make it an 8-5 game. Lebanon Valley then rallied in the seventh with a pair of runs against Messiah reliever Ben Jordan. With runners on second and third, junior first baseman Brad Brandt ripped a one-out, one-run single before, one batter later, a throw on what appeared to be a game-ending double play was dropped at first to make it 8-7. Jordan got the final out a fielder's choice.
Smart (2-2) worked the complete game, his second of the season, while walking three and striking out two. Messiah starter Jeremy Stoltzfus (3-2) threw the first four innings to get the win, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits and a walk. Over the final three innings, Jordan surrendered three runs (two earned), walked two, and struck out three while picking up the save.
Mentzer was 3-for-4 with three runs in the opener.
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