Albright College Athletics

GRANTHAM, Pa. - With the score even at 5-5 in the bottom of the 13th inning, the host Falcons of Messiah College loaded the bases with no outs on a single and back-to-back walks. Second baseman Jon Shenk stepped up to the plate and laid down a sacrifice squeeze bunt which allowed Derek Sipe to score the game winning run downing the Lions 6-5 in a Commonwealth Conference game. 

Both Albright and Messiah totaled 12 hits in the three hour, 30 minute game. The Lions were charged with a total of five errors in the loss, while the Falcons recorded two. With the loss the Lions record fell to 12-15-1 on the year, 2-8 in the conference. Messiah improved their record to 13-17-1, and evened their conference record at 5-5.

On the hill junior righty Casey Lawrence (McSherrystown, PA/Delone Catholic) threw seven innings and allowed five runs on 11 hits. Four of the five runs scored by the Falcons were earned. Junior reliever Kevin Butler (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Coughlin) pitched the final five innings of the contest and gave up just one hit and three walks. The two junior pitchers combined for six strikeouts on the day respectively.

Junior Matt Kozlowski (Reading, PA/Reading Central Catholic) had another solid performance at the plate going 3-for-6 on the day. Senior Jason Dunkelberger (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin) and sophomore Justin Danser (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) each recorded two RBI’s.

For the Falcons Elliot Thomas picked up his second win of the season on a five inning outing. Thomas gave up just three hits, and struck out two others.

Albright initially held a 2-1 lead over their conference rivals going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Messiah took their first lead of the day after scoring two runs in the frame. However it did not take long for the Lions to earn their second lead of the afternoon.

In the seventh, the red and white tacked on three runs to take a 5-3 lead, following RBI hits from Dunkelberger and Danser. Unfortunately the Lions lead was short lived yet again as the Falcons tied the score at 5-5 on back-to-back home runs with no outs on the scoreboard.

After the dual homers, Butler stepped on the mound and retired the next three batters to keep the score even at 5-5. From there the two teams would remain tied through the next four innings, before moving into the 13th.

In the top half of the 13th Kozlowski would record the only Albright hit on a single with one out. The Falcons got out of the inning after turning a 3-6-3 double play. The game winning suicide squeeze by the Falcons was the second of the season for them.

Baseball returns to action tomorrow afternoon when they host the Falcons in a doubleheader at Kelchner Field. Start time is scheduled for noon. Live stats will be available and can be viewed at http://www.albright.edu/athletics/livestats/xlive.htm.