Jacksonville, ILL. -- In the final day of the season, the Panthers wrapped up their series with MacMurray earning two wins to send their seniors off with games to remember.
Game one started off with both pitchers dealing. The Panthers looked to break it open early leading off the game with two singles before MacMurray's starter dug in and struck out the Panthers three and four hole hitters and threw a groundout to escape unscathed. Freshman
Chris Stamos was on the mound for the Panthers and had an outstanding outing. Tied 0-0 in the top of the fifth,
Blake Lesky started things off with a single to left field.
Liam Foster played some unselfish baseball and laid down a beautiful bunt down the first base line to move Lesky over. Hannan singled deep in the hole to short as the shortstop made a nice play to keep runners at first and second.
Stephen Strong drew a walk to load the bases. Senior
Zach Grennie picked up his pitch and one hopped the wall in right center clearing the bases and giving the Panthers the lead. Still with one out, McMullin hit a fly ball that Grennie advanced to third on with some head up base running allowing him to score on a wild pitch during the next at bat. The Panthers would tack on two more in the sixth to give
Chris Stamos a comfortable lead to pitch with. MacMurray was able to push a run across in the sixth but was picked off at second to end the game. Panther took game one 6-1 with Stamos throwing all seven and picking up his third victory of the year.
The first two games of the series featured the Panthers with a comfortable lead. Game three was the opposite as the Panthers had to battle back from behind twice. Much like the first game, the first two batters for the Panthers reached in the top of the first but MacMurray pitching struck out the next two batters.
Aleq McMullin helped his own cause singling to left field scoring
Liam Foster.
Aleq McMullin started on the mound for the Panthers. MacMurray started things off with a single and stole second. An error allowed the runner to reach third and the batter advanced to second with no outs. A second error allowed two runs to score and the batter to reach second. A well placed groundball made it through the right side scoring MacMurray's third run of the inning. Another error put runners at first and third. Then a ground ball took a nasty hop over Hannan's head at third singling in a fourth run to stretch the lead to 4-1. Instead of rolling over, the Panthers responded in the top of the second.
Jack Adler singled followed by a
Will Adler walk. Hannan walked to load the bases and a double by
Stephen Strong unloaded the bases tying things up at four. McMullin settled in and pieced together an outstanding start. In the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff double and a bunt single had MacMurray threatening again. A well-executed suicide squeeze scored the go ahead run. With the infield in,
Jack Adler made a great play fielding and throwing out a baserunner at the plate. With first and third and two outs, a throw down to second got away and allowed the runner at third to score putting MacMurray up 6-4. Things stayed the same through the seventh. In the top of the eighth
Chris Stamos singled and moved up on a ground ball off the bat of
Jack Adler that the second basemen dropped trying to get the lead runner.
Will Adler singled to load the bases for
Nathan Wood, who pinch hit for
Liam Foster in the sixth. Wood came through with a big hit for the Panthers roping a single to left field to score one. A pitching change brought in MacMurray's closer with one out and the bases juiced. Hannan singled to tie the game at six.
Stephen Strong doubled scoring two runs to give the Panthers their first lead since the top of the first. But MacMurray wouldn't go quietly. In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs a hit by pitch put a runner on base. Two singles later the lead was cut to one. The Panthers were unable to add an insurance run and would turn things over to closer
Sean Hannan. A leadoff walk made things interesting.
Will Adler made a running grab on a bunt popped up in foul territory for the first out. The Highlanders were down to their last out after a fly out to right. A single kept fans on their feet but Hannan induced the final fly out to senior
Alex Stamos to seal the sweep.
"It was a great way for us to end the season and send off our seniors. Pitching was phenomenal this whole series and the bats were able to push across runs when we needed them most. It can be easy for teams that are out of playoff contention to quit or give up, but I didn't see any of that from the guys. They picked each other up and played their hearts out getting the win." –
Chris Marston
