Elsah, ILL.— Principia College played host to the Fontbonne University Griffins in a double header that started at 1pm. Fontbonne is 12-10 overall and has a 4-1 record in conference.
Alex Stamos was on the bump in game one. He settled in nicely after the leadoff man singled to start the game. One run scored in the first as Stamos retired the next three batters. The Panthers went down in order in the first. Stamos struck out the side in the top of the second.
Zach Grennie led off the bottom of the second with a home run to left.
Sean Hannan walked and was doubled home by
Stephen Strong. Strong scored on a
Ryan Eisenauer ground out to first to give the Panthers the 3-1 lead. Stamos retired the side in order in the third. Fontbonne then scored two more in the 4
th to tie things up. Game one went extra innings as the pitching on both sides kept the score even. In the top of the eighth, Fontbonne pushed across a run that proved to be the winning run. The Panthers stranded two runners in bottom of the 8
th as Fontbonne took game one.
Jake Kearney took the mound in game two. The Panthers fell behind quickly in game two. After giving up three in the first, they tried to pull back into the game by scoring two of their own in the bottom of the first. Fontbonne answered by scoring two more in the second to take a 5-2 lead. After a scoreless bottom of the second, the Griffins chased Kearney from the game after a two run homerun.
Aleq McMullin allowed two more runs and the Griffins lead grew to 9-2. The Panthers scored in the third as Strong walked to push Bargmann, who led off with a single, across the plate. McMullin allowed one in the fourth to make the score 10-3. The Panther offense continued to chip away. Eddie Bargmann doubled then Kearney singled which scored the first run for the Panthers' half of the fourth. An error by the Fontbonne third baseman allowed Kearney to score cutting the lead to five. Strong led off the fifth with a single and was tripled in by
Will Adler to make it 10-6. Kearney scored in the sixth cutting the lead to three. In the bottom of the 7
th, Davidson walked and Bargmann doubled him in cutting the lead to two. Kearney singled and Bargmann scored as the left fielder miss-played the ball. A wild pitch put Kearney on second and Grennie doubled to bring Kearney home to tie things up. Game two went to extra innings with the Panthers and Griffins tied 10-10. Strong led things off with the walk in the bottom of the 8
th. He advanced to second on the passed ball. Adler hit a fly ball out to left. Davidson walked to put runners at first and second. Two pitches later they advanced to second and third. With a 3-0 count, Bargmann walked and Strong scored on the walk off wild pitch.
This win moves the Panthers to 5-3 in conference and 15-7 overall. The Panthers hadn't beaten Fontbonne since 2014 back when they played them three times in a series.
He Said It:
"After feeling like we gave away game one, I was glad to see guys bounce back and pick up the win in the second game. It would have been easy to roll over down seven but we kept chipping away. McMullin did his job on the mound and gave us the opportunity to win."
– Head Coach
Chris Marston
Up Next:
Principia College will face Illinois College in a single nine inning varsity game followed by a seven inning JV game Tuesday April 10
th.
