EUREKA, IL – The Principia Baseball team headed to Eureka College on Friday afternoon to take on the Red Devils in their conference opener.
Micah Cook earned the nod for the Panthers and made his first SLIAC start.
The Red Devils struck first in the bottom of the first with an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead. With one out and the bases loaded, Cook induced a ground ball up the middle and second basemen,
Ben Perrine, turned the inning-ending double play. In the top of the second,
Tim Eissler led off with a single and advanced to second on a single by
Salvador Flores. With one out,
Alejandro Zozaya singled to drive in a run and tie things up 1-1.
Both pitchers settled in going 1-2-3 until the top of the fourth when Eissler led off with a double but the Panthers were unable to capitalize. In the bottom of the fourth, a hit by pitch and several defensive miscues allowed the Red Devils to plate two runs with 0 outs and take a 3-1 lead. After a single to right,
Casey Golbiw made a great throw to pick up the first out as a Eureka baserunner tried to advance to third. With two out in the bottom of the sixth, the Red Devils tacked on an insurance run with three straight singles.
In the top of the ninth,
Ryan D'Amico singled to lead off the inning, and then Eissler reached on a fielder's choice. Eissler forced an error and scored to cut the lead to two. The Panthers were unable to push any more runs across and fell 4-2.
Due to inclement weather, Saturday's doubleheader was postponed to Sunday afternoon.
Salvador Flores and
Ethan Booth started each game of the doubleheader and struggled to keep the Red Devils off the board. Eureka was firing on all cylinders, winning 18-0 in the first game and 19-4 in the second game. Both games ended after 7 innings due to the mercy rule.
Kailis Mayo had a nice day at the plate, going 4/5 in the two games with a run scored.
Grayle Kendall and
Jeremy Ramirez-Garcia each got their first hits of 2023 in game two, with Ramirez-Garcia also scoring a run.
Ryan D'Amico stayed scorching hot as he went 4/6 in the doubleheader with 2 solo home runs in game 2. D'Amico now has 2 or more hits in 7 straight games with an incredible .615 average (16/26) in those 7 games.
Up Next: The Panthers host Fontbonne for their first conference series at home with a single game on Thursday at 5:30 pm and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
