Elsah, ILL. -- Principia College played host to the Westminster Blue Jays Saturday in the final home games of the regular season.
Chris Stamos started on the mound for the Panthers and also got the scoring started with a hot shot of his bat miss handled and thrown away by the Blue Jay third basemen scoring
Aleq McMullin from second. Westminster tied things up in the top of the third with a solo home run to lead off the inning. The Panthers jumped back into the lead on a double down the left field line by
Zach Grennie scoring
Sean Hannan who singled, and
Stephen Strong who was hit by a pitch. Westminster added two more in the top of the fifth on four singles.
Senior
Aleq McMullin came in in relief in the top of the sixth with things all tied up. With two outs and runners on second and third, Westminster hit their second home run of the game to take a 6-3 lead. The Panthers scored an unconventional run with runners on first and second and one out, a single off the bat of
Jack Adler would have loaded the bases but a base running mistake allowed Westminster to catch McMullin rounding second too hard which allowed
Zach Grennie, the runner at third, to score during the rundown. However, the Panthers were unable to score again and Westminster took game one 6-4.
The Panthers took a moment and honored their four seniors, Liam Foster, Aleq McMullin, Zach Grennie, and Alex Stamos and their families before game two. Senior Alex Stamos started the final home game for the Panthers. Westminster would strike first in the top of the second scoring with two outs on a single up the middle. They added two more on a one out homerun in the top of the third and add another unearned run in the inning to stretch the lead to 4-0. Another run in the fourth made things 5-0 and the Panthers offense needed a spark. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Nathan Wood got a pinch hit appearance and worked the count full before picking up the first RBI with a walk for the Panthers. The Blue Jays responded with a solo homerun in the seventh to make things 6-1. In the bottom of the seventh Sean Hannan drew a walk and Stephen Strong ripped a homerun to left center cutting the lead to three. Will Adler doubled later that inning to score Aleq McMullin and Chris Stamos making the score 6-5. Westminster scored one more in the top of the ninth to put the pressure on the Panthers. Principia wasn't ready to quit. Aleq McMullin led off with a single and Chris Stamos walked before the Blue Jays made a pitching change. Jack Adler drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. The Blue Jay pitcher settled in and struck out the next two Panthers bringing Nathan Wood to the plate. He ripped a ball that looked as if it would get down but was chased down and caught by the right fielder to end the game.
Up Next:
Principia will travel to MacMurray for a three game series in Jacksonville, IL as the Panthers will wrap up their season this next weekend. Friday's game is at 3pm and Saturday is at 1pm and 3pm.
