Box Score JACKSONVILLE, ILL. – The Panthers traveled up to Jacksonville, IL, this afternoon, to take on the MacMurray Highlanders. The Highlanders are 11-5 in conference play and sit atop the SLIAC East Division. The Panthers received strong pitching and sound defense, but did not produce enough offense to earn the victory today. They fell to the Highlanders, 4-1.
Sawyer Grow was the starting pitcher for the Panthers. He did a phenomenal job through the first two innings. However, he ran into a jam in the third inning, when the Highlanders strung together a two-out rally and pushed across four runs.
With the game tied up at one apiece and two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Grow threw a 2-2 curveball which just missed being called strike three. The next pitch turned into an RBI single, and then Drew Johnson, the Highlanders three-hole hitter, followed with a two-run homerun. Grow battled back and tossed a scoreless fourth inning. He finished with four innings pitched, and allowed five hits and four runs, while striking out two.
Aleq McMullin came in to relieve Grow. McMullin threw the final four innings for the Panthers. He did not surrender any runs, and gave up just two hits in his outing. He pitched brilliantly and both pitchers attacked the strike zone well the whole game.
Luke Jarvis, a 6'6" left-handed pitcher, went the distance for the Highlanders. Jarvis pitched a no-hitter against the Webster Gorloks a few weeks ago, and is one of the league's top hurlers. He allowed just two hits in his nine innings of work.
Jeff Ross was the only Panther to record a hit in the game. Ross tripled to deep center field in his first at-bat and then scored on a SAC fly by
Connor Coyne. Ross also doubled down the left field line in his second at-bat. This was the extent of the Panthers offense today, though, as the Highlanders escaped with a 4-1 victory.
The Panthers will look to bounce back tomorrow, as they take on the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. They will be playing a double-header with the Tigers beginning at 2:00 p.m. central time. The first game will be a seven inning game, and the latter game will be a nine inning contest. Thank you to all the fans for your continued support!
