Baseball
at Metro Bank Park
Messiah 5, Lebanon Valley 4
Lebanon Valley 4, Messiah 3
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
HARRISBURG, Pa. -
Ryan Schwartz's go-ahead single in the seventh inning of game two salvaged a doubleheader split as Lebanon Valley bounced back from a walk-off loss in game one against Messiah Saturday at the Harrisburg Senators' Metro Bank Park.
Messiah took the opener 5-4 before LVC won 4-3 in the nightcap as the conference foes played on City Island as part of the Senators' Fan Fest weekend. The two teams will play the rubbermatch of their series Monday at LVC's McGill Field in a rescheduling of Friday's rain-out.
Messiah's Paul Mellinger singled in the walk-off run in the opener as the Falcons rallied for two in the bottom of the seventh, but LVC turned it around in the nightcap to score all four of their runs over the last three innings, including Schwartz's base knock to drive in
Derek Brousseau to go up in the top of the seventh.
GAME ONE
LVC took an early 1-0 lead on
Jordan Higgins' RBI single in the second to plate Jake Rhody, but Messiah answered with a three-run third inning that included a two-run double by John Brubaker and Wes Hollenbach's sacrifice fly.
The Dutchmen (9-13, 2-6 CC) chipped away with a run on Higgins' single in the fourth, and then rallied to go up in the seventh when
Colt Zarilla drove in a pair of runs, plating Schwartz and Brousseau to take a 4-3 lead.
Messiah kept at it in their final at-bat, forcing LVC to lift starter
Jake Becker before Hollenbach singled in the tying run off
Ian Younker. Cory Cincicola came in with one out and the bases loaded, and Mellinger immediately drove in the walk-off run.
Becker went six full and struck out six while allowing five hits; Younker was charged with the loss. Eric Spring started and went five and a third for Messiah, but reliever Zach Adams picked up the win after getting Messiah out of a jam in the seventh to avoid further damage.
GAME TWO
Messiah took a 3-0 lead in the middle innings, scoring on Brubaker's RBI double in the third before Sean Hart scored two with a single in the fourth.
LVC cut the lead down in the bottom of the fifth when Schwartz drove in
Dustin Deibert in an inning extended by a fielding error,
Jordan Witmer's two-run double in the sixth tied the game at 3-3 after another Messiah miscue. That set up LVC's go-ahead chance in the seventh; after
Tom Rasich hit into a double play, Brousseau walked and stole second before going to third on an error by the shortstop. That was enough for Schwartz, who singled with two outs to bring Brousseau across and go up 4-3.
Caleb Fick (1-3) then completed his start by inducing three groundouts in the bottom half to pick up his first win of the year Tory Arnesen (3-2) allowed just one earned run as Messiah racked up three errors.
SCHEDULE NOTE: To accomodate finishing the Messiah series on Monday, LVC's previously scheduled game for Monday against Frostburg State has been moved to April 25 at 4 p.m.
