RICHMOND, IN - The Principia Baseball team traveled to Indiana to face the Earlham College Quakers in a doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon. Earlham was coming off a sweep of the Panthers' previous opponent, Olivet College, so they knew it would be a tough task to get a win. However, Principia more than held their own through the first four innings of game one.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead in the first thanks to a lead off single by freshman
Alejandro Zozaya followed by a home run by senior
Jack Adler. Adler, who hit .700 the previous weekend, continued right where he left off with Principia's first long ball of 2022. Senior
Chris Strong made his first start of the season on the mound. The Earlham bats capitalized on a defensive miscue by the Panthers and cut the lead to one with one unearned run in the bottom of the first.
In the top of the second, freshman
Salvador Flores doubled in the right center gap and was driven in by
Owen Murphy, who picked up his first career hit and RBI on a line drive up the middle. The Panthers would give up the lead in the bottom of the second surrendering three runs on three hits. The Panther trailed 4-3 into the bottom of the fourth before giving up four runs, three unearned, to give the Quakers an 8-3 lead.
After their strong start, things would unravel for the Panthers in the bottom of the sixth, and the Quakers would go on to win 21-4 in seven innings.
As the sun dropped, so did the temperature for game two.
Salvador Flores made his first career start on the mound and threw five innings before Alex Zozaya came in for the final frame. The Panthers played much better on defense and prevented any big innings from the opposition. Unfortunately, the offense couldn't find its rhythm in game two and the Panthers fell 10-0.
Up Next: The Panthers look forward to extra rest this week with the weekend off before hosting Maranatha Baptist University for a three-game series on March 18th and 19th.
