Elsah, IL. -- Saturday's game was moved to Principia College's Cheatham Stadium due to the amount of rain that came through Greenville, Illinois. Principia, still the away team, gained a little home field advantage. Coming off a two-win day at Greenville, the Panthers were looking to finish strong.
Moments before first pitch, the cold front pushed through and brought with it cold temperatures and very windy conditions for the entire game. The Panthers were unable to get things started in the first going down in order.
Zach Grennie made his first start for the Panthers this season and picked up two quick outs before surrendering a two-out walk. He induced what is normally a routine fly ball to center but with the wind and twilight, the ball disappeared into the sky and fell 20 feet shy of where our outfielder was. This allowed the runner on first to score on the double to give Greenville the 1-0 lead after the first. After that, pitching on both sides was strong as there were a combined 18 strike outs through six innings.
Nathan Wood came in to the game in relief for Zach with a runner on first and one out. With one pitch he got the batter to ground into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play. The Greenville Panthers extended their lead after a double and two wild pitches that allowed the runner to score. In the top of the 7
th, Eddie Bargmann led off with a double. A Panther base running goof left Strong at first with the fielder's choice. Kearney singled and Grennie struck out leaving first and second with two outs. Hannan drew a walk and forced the pitching change.
Aleq McMullin came through big time with the base clearing triple to give Principia their first lead of the day.
Nathan Wood did an excellent job on the mound and was able to pass the torch to
Alex Stamos who game in for a single inning of work. He got the first batter to ground to short which was thrown away moving the runner to second. The runner ended up scoring as he advanced on a ball in the dirt and continued home on the errant throw to third. With the game tied at three,
Jeff Ross made his first appearance in the bottom of the ninth after the Panthers were unable to get anything going. Jeff worked out of jams in the ninth and tenth. In the 11
th, the lead-off batter for the Greenville Panthers reached on a hit by pitch and then advanced to second on a ground ball out to short. Greenville's three hole hitter was intentionally walked for the second time in the game. A single loaded the bases and a ball driven to deep center cleared the outfielders head to give Greenville the walk off win.
He Said It:
"We had some guys step up big for us today and we made it a close game. Some costly mistakes kept us from coming out on top but with games on Monday it gives us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and move forward."
-- Head Coach
Chris Marston
Up Next:
Principia College travels to Eureka, Illinois for a double header Monday against Eureka College.
