Elsah, ILL.— On Thursday, Principia College hosted the Lincoln Christian Red Lions in their final home game of the season. All of Principia's seniors were in the starting lineup. The Panthers, who were coming off a good weekend series against MacMurray, were looking to add to their record setting win total.
Stephen Strong started for the Panthers on the mound.
Lincoln Christian started off the game swinging the bats well. Some sloppy defense lead to a longer inning allowing the Red Lions to pick up a quick 5-0 lead.
Parker Davidson led off with a single for the bottom half of the first. He stole second on the next pitch and with his 24
th stolen base, broke the single season stolen base record.
Ed Bargmann singled scoring Davidson. Bargmann who had advanced to second on the throw home to try and get Davidson, stole third.
Zach Grennie drove a ball to the warning track to score Bargmann as the Panthers chipped away at the early Lion lead.
Strong settled in and had a quick one-two-three inning in the second and the third. Bargmann laced a triple in the bottom of the third. He was again scored by Grennie on a sacrifice fly to right.
Aleq McMullin golfed a low ball and sent it over the wall for a home run. The next batter,
Jake Kearney connected with the ball for back to back home runs. Hannan walked and was scored by the
Ryan Eisenauer triple. Eisenauer doubled in his first at bat. The Panthers took the lead 6-5 through three.
The Lions tacked on another in the 4
th to tie things up and another in the 5
th to take the lead back. Hannan led off the 5
th for the Panthers and ripped a high fastball for the third home run of the game to even things up 7-7. In the next inning,
Zach Grennie launched a two-out no doubter to take the lead 8-7.
Nathan Wood was first in relief in the 7
th. After striking out the innings leadoff batter, he gave up a homerun that tied things up but he settled right down and retired the next two batters.
Senior
Jake Kearney had a day at the plate as he hit his second home run of the game to take the lead for the Panthers in the bottom of the 7
th.
Parker Davidson came in as relief and allowed one run to score as the Lions kept fighting back. The Panthers eventually got to them, scoring 7 runs in the 8
th inning that featured a triple by Grennie, and back to back doubles by McMullin and Kearney. Senior
Brett Huntley was behind the plate for the Panthers keeping the Panther pitching in check. He worked a walk in the 8
th and stole second and eventually came around to score. All said and done, it was too much for the Lincoln Christian Lions to come back from as the Panthers sent
Sean Hannan to the mound who struck out the side to end the game.
Up Next:
The Panthers travel to Westminster College for a double header this Thursday now scheduled for 5pm/7pm start.
