by McKenzie Quirin

GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team returned to action on Monday afternoon, when it suffered a 9-3 loss to Messiah University in a single, nine-inning game at Starry Baseball Field.

In their first action since inclement weather halted a home doubleheader against Wilson last week, the Lions (5-8) struggled to come up with key hits. Penn State Altoona totaled 11 hits as a team but scored just three runs while stranding 12 runners on base.

The Lions scored a run in the top of the first, but Messiah (15-6) tied the score to end the first inning. The Falcons kept their momentum going by putting eight more runs on the board the rest of the way, getting three in both the third and fourth innings and one in both the seventh and eighth innings to close out the afternoon.

Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) had a game-high three hits, going 3-for-5 at the plate. Alex Hlivia (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) was 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Tyreke Green (Altoona, PA/Altoona) went 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Sam Homan (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) started on the rubber for Penn State Altoona and took the loss, after pitching three innings and yielding four runs with one strikeout. Eli Wiles (Kittanning, PA/Armstrong) tossed two innings out of the bullpen, surrendering two earned runs and striking out two batters.

Mack Meengs (State College, PA/State College) and Caden Suba (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) also made one-inning appearances, while Carter Piercey (West Chester, PA/Rustin) pitched the eighth.

Penn State Altoona got on the board early, scoring a run in the top of the first inning. Green singled to third base with one out, moved up to third on Rauch's hit, and scored on a Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) RBI single.

Messiah quickly evened the score in the bottom half of the first, when Dylan Beard's sacrifice fly brought home Isaiah Parido. The Falcons established a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning, thanks to an RBI groundout from Joshua Ammons, a bases-loaded walk drawn by Dustin Isanogle, and a run-scoring single by Luke Ott.

Messiah continued its scoring as they extended their lead to 7-1 by the end of the fourth inning. Ammons' RBI single brought in the Falcons' fifth run of the game, before a wild pitch scored Drew Hurst and an error let Ammons come home.

Parido's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh pulled in another run for the Falcons to put them up 8-1.

The Lions got two runs of their own in the top of the eighth to make it 8-3. Chamberlain led off with a walk, Jimmy Mento (Corapeake, NC/Gates County) was later hit by a pitch, and Dominic McCaffrey (Spotswood, NJ/St. John Vianney) singled to load the bases with two outs. Hlivia drove in Chamberlain and Mento with his two-run single to third base, cutting the Falcons' lead to five.

But Messiah made it 9-3 in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single from Ott, and the Falcons went on to win by six runs.

The Penn State Altoona baseball team returns home to face off in a 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. doubleheader against non-conference opponent Waynesburg University on Tuesday, March 26 at Stewart Athletic Field.