The Panthers hosted the Robert Morris –Peoria Eagles on Friday in their 2020 home opener. The Panthers started senior Stephen Strong on the mound who made quick work of the visiting Eagles in the first inning retiring the first three batters he faced. Mikey Coyne led off with a single and stole second to put himself into scoring position early. The Eagles starter settled in quickly and stuck out the side to end any threat. The Eagles offense scored first and tallied three in the second. They tacked on four more in the third. Sophomore Spencer Cobb came in in relief and picked up two innings of work. The Eagles stretched their lead to 11. Freshman Grayle Kendall made his first mound appearance of the season. Chris Strong came in relief and settled in quickly. The Eagles lead was a commanding 18-0 and the Panthers had managed just two hits as they entered the bottom of the sixth. The Panthers chipped away at the deficit and rallied to score 14 runs to cut the lead to four. Ben Kearney got things started reaching on an error. Jack Adler, Stephen Strong, Sean Hannan and Nathan Wood all tallied one hit in the inning as the Panthers almost batted through their lineup three times. Unfortunately the Panther offence would fall just short in mounting a comeback. Game one was highlighted by Chris Strong's three and two third innings in relief.
Saturday's double header started with Chris Stamos on the mound. Chris held the Eagles to just one hit in his seven innings pitched. He also tied single game strikeout record (13) held by Dallen Russell, for the second time in his career. The Panthers would score two in the first to take an early lead. Coyne reached on an error and was driven in on a double by Jack Adler who advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Stephen Strong ground out. The Panthers added two more in the fifth with Nathan Wood starting the inning off with a single and bunted to second by Ben Kearney. Jack Adler would pick up his second RBI of the game on a single and eventually crossed the plate on Sean Hannan's RBI hit by pitch.
Sean Hannan started the rubber match for the Panthers and allowed one run on two hits and three strikeouts. The Panthers took the lead in the bottom of the first scoring two runs on a homerun from Chris Stamos. The lead would stretch to eight as the Panthers scored seven runs on three hits in the bottom of the second. Both teams kept each other scoreless in the third. The Eagles picked up four runs in the fourth to make the score 9-5. Again Hannan would strike out the side to end any further threat. He tallied 10 strikeouts in his four innings of work. The Panthers loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fourth and Mikey Coyne delivered a base clearing triple. The Panthers would tack on three more to make the score 15- 5. While ten runs seem like a commanding lead, this series had proved otherwise. Nathan Wood, coming off a solid outing at Centre College came in in the fifth and did his job throwing strikes. The Eagles offense wouldn't go quietly as they chipped away scoring two in the fifth to cut the lead to eight. The Eagles started off the sixth with a quite single and Wood induced two quick fly outs. However a double and walk loaded the bases for the Eagles four hole hitter. He blasted a grand slam to cut the lead to four. The Panthers didn't cave to the pressure and put up three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. With his three innings pitched, Nathan Wood picked up his first career save as Hannan would earn his first win of the season
Next Up:
The Panthers travel to Paragould, Arkansas to take on the Crowley's Ridge Pioneers in a four game series February 28th and 29th.
