Clayton, MO. -- Principia made the quick trip south to Clayton, Mo to take on Fontbonne University in a late night double header. Freshman
Chris Stamos started for the Panthers and after surrendering two base hits, he struck out the side in the first. The Panther offense tied things up in the second scoring their first and only run of game one. A couple walks and a passed ball put
Zach Grennie in scoring position. Transfer,
Blake Lesky put the ball in play to make the score 1-1. Fontbonne didn't look back and scored 5 more over the next 4 innings.
Nathan Wood made another relief appearance and made quick work of the two batters he faced. He started to struggle to find the zone issuing two walks but was able to regroup and get the final out without any more damage.
Freshman
Jack Adler received the nod for his first start of the season in game two. Adler did his job giving the Panthers three scoreless innings striking out six in the process. The Panther bats delivered some run support and jumped on the scoreboard in the top of the third.
Stephen Strong led off with a walk and was moved over by an
Aleq McMullin sacrifice bunt.
Sean Hannan singled to right to pick up the first run. Grennie singled and
Chris Stamos walked to load the bases for
Blake Lesky. He put the ball in play and after Fontbonne picked up the first out at the plate, a throwing error trying to double up the speedy Lesky allowed two Panthers to score and moved Blake to second.
In the fifth the Panthers tacked on two more with doubles by Hannan and Grennie and a single by Stamos. They collected a third unearned run after an error by Fontbonne's second baseman.
Aleq McMullin threw in relief and had an outstanding first inning. He was stretched to throw a second inning and Fontbonne was able to get to him for three runs.
Stephen Strong entered the inning in relief. After thinking he had gotten the third out on a flyball to left only to find out it had been negated due to a balk call, allowed a two run home run that tied things up at six.
Instead of rolling over, the Panthers continued to fight.
Sean Hannan threw three innings in relief. With two outs in the 7th, the Panthers would strike and plated five runs to take back the lead.
Hannan allowed one in the 8th as the Griffins tried to mount a second comeback.
Alex Stamos threw the 9th and after a lead off walk, got the next batter to ground out. A hit by pitch made things interesting. A fielders choice and a strike out sealed the win for the Panthers.
The Panthers tallied 13 hits lead by
Sean Hannan and
Zach Grennie with three hits apiece.
Next Up:
The Panthers face Eureka at home this Saturday for a double header starting at 1pm and 3pm.
