Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ELSAH, ILL. – Today the Principia Panthers hosted the Webster Gorloks. The Panthers played solid baseball at times, but their play was sporadic and proved to be too inconsistent to secure a win in either of the two games. Webster did the little things well today and Principia failed to execute in times where they needed to in order to stay competitive with the Gorloks. As a result the Gorloks remained the top-seeded team in the conference and swept Principia in their two-game series.
Game 1The first game featured a decent outing by
Gavin Thomas. The senior chucked a complete game, scattering eight hits through seven innings. Thomas made few mistakes over those seven innings, but Webster capitalized on each of those mistakes.
The Gorloks hit three home runs in the first game. Jeff Kammer hit two round trippers and accounted for five of the six RBIs Webster had in this contest. Other than Kammer, though, Thomas did a very nice job of keeping the Gorloks offense stagnant throughout much of the ball game.
On the flip side, the Panthers struggled to find any sort of answer for Webster's starting pitcher, CJ Lee. Thomas's counterpart also tossed a complete game.
Parker Davidson and
Christian Thomas each singled, but the rest of the Panther lineup was held without a hit. Lee threw a lot of strikes, but the Panthers also chased balls that were out of the zone and did not make the necessary adjustments at the plate and struck out looking eight times alone and twelve times in total in seven innings.
The Panthers were unable to push across any runs in the first game of the series and wound up falling to the Gorloks by a score of 6-0. Webster is a very strong team and deserve credit for playing well as they made sure to capitalize on Thomas's rare mistakes.
Game 2The second game was a different story as the Panthers and the Gorloks each collected eight hits. Despite being tied in the hits column, Webster did a better job of advancing their base runners and manufacturing runs consistently throughout the game.
Dallen Russell hurled the second game for the Panthers and only gave up three hits. Russell did not allow a hit until the fifth inning when Webster's first baseman, Kyle Uhrich, drove a ball over the fence in left field.
After Uhrich homered, Russell struck out Kammer. With two outs and no one on base, Russell faced Webster's sixth hitter, Dylan Rajkovich. After working Rajkovich to a 0-2 count, Russell froze him on an inside curveball which appeared to be strike three. However, the pitch was called a ball. The next pitch was a fastball which was very close to the outside corner. Rajkovich did not budge at the pitch and it was called a ball. The fifth pitch of the at-bat Russell hit Rajkovich on a 2-2 fastball and proceeded to walk the seventh-hole hitter soon thereafter. Russell then gave up a three run homer and a double before working out of the inning with no further damage.
Russell ended up pitching five innings. Though he only gave up three hits, he did not have the best command of his pitches as he walked eight batters and hit one. He did, however, strike out five hitters, including striking out the side in the top half of the first inning.
Ed Bargmann led the way offensively for the Panthers, going a perfect 3-3 in the second game and scored the sole run for Principia.
Christian Thomas was the only other Panther who recorded a multi-hit game, as he had a pair of singles.
Gavin Thomas,
Hunter Mehring, and
Jeff Ross each singled as well.
Unfortunately the Panthers were only able to muster one run in the second game though they had several great opportunities to have bigger innings. Principia was on the wrong side of a couple double play balls which were huge momentum swings for the Gorloks.
The Gorloks kept chipping away throughout the game and ended up defeating the Panthers in eight innings, 11-1. Principia's next series will be at home once again on Tuesday, April 21, at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. versus the Washington University Bears (WUSTL). The Panthers will look to compete well with the Bears and will then travel to Spalding University Friday to take on the Golden Eagles in a three game series over the weekend in Louisville, KY.
