ELSAH, IL - Principia College Baseball wrapped up their season with a home twin bill against the Greenville Panthers. Senior Chris Strong received the nod for the Principia in his final career start.
Greenville's offense jumped out to an early lead in the first with a two-run home run to left in the first. After tacking on another run before the end of the inning, Greenville added four more in the top of the second to take a 7-0 lead. Salvador Flores entered to pitch in the second when Strong was hit in the foot by a hard single up the middle. Flores settled in and stranded the bases loaded in the top of the third with some help from Casey Golbiw who tracked down a deep fly ball with a diving catch in center field to end the threat. Greenville scored two runs in each of the next three innings to take a commanding lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, after a walk to Alejandro Zozaya, Ryan D'Amico doubled to right field to put runners at second and third with no out and give Principia their best scoring chance of the game. The next two Panthers struck out swinging, leaving pinch hitter Edgar Haro to the plate as the Panthers last hope to get on the scoreboard in the first game of the doubleheader. Haro came through with his first career base hit and RBI on a single to the shortstop. The final score of game one was 13-1.
Between games, the Panthers honored and thanked the team's two seniors and their families. Jack Adler is a four-year member of the baseball team. He was a highly-touted shortstop out of high school and made an immediate impact on the program. Jack was able to step in as a freshman and earn the starting role at shortstop. He has played consistent defense throughout his career at Principia as he flashed the leather regularly and made difficult plays look routine. He holds one of the team's top fielding percentages this season, and coming into this weekend's series, he had only committed two conference errors. He has shown power at the plate throughout his career and ranks fifth all-time for career home runs at Principia (10). He has steadily improved his batting average over his career, hitting .333 overall this season to give him a career batting average over .300. Jack also pitched his way into the record books this season in his start against Eureka, picking up ten Ks to earn a top ten spot in single-game strikeouts.
Chris Strong, a three-year member of the baseball team, joined the Panthers after spending his freshman year in the press box as the baseball commentator. Chris took advantage of each opportunity he received in his first season and found his way into the starting lineup before the season was cut short by the pandemic. His junior year, he was one of several players that stayed on campus and worked hard to develop his game. In his senior season, Chris played all over the field as he made starts on the mound, at second, third, and in the outfield. All season long, he continued to show his willingness to do what was best for the team. Chris ranks third this season in batting average and leads the team in hit by pitches. On the mound, he has made the most starts and tallied the second most innings pitched this season.
Adler started on the mound in game two and surrendered one run in the first on two walks and a hit. Then in the bottom of the first, Principia took the lead when Flores led off with a single and Adler drove his fifth homerun of the season to deep left field. Greenville responded in the second and rallied to score four runs with two outs. Greenville continued its barrage with eight more runs over the next five innings. Bright spots for Principia included Gavin Brustman throwing a scoreless fifth and Tim Eissler throwing a scoreless seventh with three Ks. Greenville competed the sweep with a 13-2 victory.
