O'Fallon, MO. -- The Principia Baseball team traveled to Car Shield Park, home of the River City Rascals, to take on the Harris-Stowe State University Hornets. The Hornets came into the series with 13 games under their belt, 8 of them wins. The Panthers jumped out to an early lead against a strong pitcher with a first inning
Stephen Strong ground rule double to left field, which scored Eddie Bargmann from second. Junior
Alex Stamos was on the bump game one and kept the Hornet bats at bay through his 5 innings of work.
Aleq McMullin received the loss after giving up three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Panthers would take the loss, 3-1.
In game two the Panthers again struck first. On the third pitch of the game, senior Eddie Bargmann hit his first home run of the season giving the team another early lead. Senior and captain
Jake Kearney received the nod for game two and held Harris Stowe to a scoreless first. Taking advantage of a few defensive miscues, the Panthers tacked on two more in the second and another in the third to take a 4-0 lead. Kearney finished up strong and ended up only surrendering one unearned run in his 4 innings of work.
Zach Grennie threw a scoreless 5
th and passed the ball to
Sean Hannan. Hannan allowed one unearned run in the sixth bringing the score to 4-2. The Panthers held on in the bottom of the 7th as Hannan picked up his first save on the season. Keep an eye on sophomores
Ryan Eisenauer and
Stephen Strong. Ryan caught both ends of the double header and threw out his first would-be-base-stealer of the season in a clutch situation in game one. Stephen led the Panthers offensively with three hits and an RBI.
He Said It:
"The way we came out and played today made it look like we have been playing for a while. Our pitching was tremendous and we scored early to put the pressure on them. We have a few things to clean up but it is exciting to see the team come together and compete early." – Head Coach
Chris Marston
Up Next:
The Panthers head to Paragould, AR to take on Crowley's Ridge in a four game series this Friday and Saturday.
