Orange, CA – Baseball opened up their first day of Spring Break against the Chapman University Panthers in front of a large Principia fan base full of alumni and future student athletes. Chapman University came into the match up (13-7) with ten more games under their belt. Principia (8-2) has been off to a good start riding some solid pitching and hot bats.
Chapman's starter, the hard throwing six foot five righty, Christian Cosby, escaped the first unharmed even after a hit by pitch and a walk.
Aleq McMullin started on the mound for Principia and had a quick first inning with some help from
Ryan Eisenauer who gunned down his third would be base stealer of the season.
Zach Grennie picked up the first base hit of the game with a ground ball up the middle in the second. Chapman scored first in the bottom of the second with two outs. With runners on first and third, the throw got away from Eisenauer as he attempted to nab the runner at third allowing the run to cross. In the fourth, with one out and a runner on first, Chapman picked up back to back doubles to add two more and extending their lead to three.
Principia cracked the scoreboard and made things interesting in the 5
th. Sparked by the bottom of the Panther lineup,
Will Adler and
Ryan Eisenauer both drew walks.
Parker Davidson singled up the middle to drive in the first run followed by Eddie Bargmann who doubled to right pushing the second run across.
McMullin faced two in the top of the fifth as Chapman chased him from the game. Credit the patient approach by the Chapman batters, McMullin's pitch count kept him from finishing the inning.
Stephen Strong entered the game and give up his first two runs of the season as Chapman's lead grew to five. Adding two more in the sixth, and one in the seventh, Chapman extended their lead to eight.
Nathan Wood came in to pitch the 8
th and after getting the first batter to pop out, three walks allowed the Panthers to push one across on a single and end the game on a sac fly to centerfield.
The Panthers looked good through four but made some costly mistakes that let Chapman run away with the win.
He Said It:
"We loved the opportunity to gauge where we are against some solid California competition. It gave us a good indication on a few things we need to polish up but we were so grateful for the local Principia support and loved seeing all of the past, present, and future Principians."
~Assistant Coach
Dallen Russell
Up Next:
The Panthers will face University of LaVerne, tomorrow Sunday March 18
th as Principia looks to rebound from today's loss.
