AUBURNDALE, FL – The Principia College Baseball team traveled to sunny central Florida for spring training at the RussMatt Baseball Invitational. The Panthers were coming into the trip on a three game win streak having just swept Maranatha Baptist. They opened up play with a doubleheader of two 7 innning games against the University of Maine at Presque Isle Owls.
Micah Cook made the start on the mound for the Panthers in game one and pitched a scoreless top of the first. The Panthers then scored three in the home half of the first as Ben Perrine drove in Dean Wood, followed by a 2 RBI double by Skyler Stock. The Owls strung together a couple hits and tied things up in the top of the second. In the bottom of the inning, Cole Christensen flashed his speed and beat out an infield single and was driven in by Wood to regain the lead. A sac fly by Ryan D'Amico would make things 5-3 after two.
Presque Isle chipped away at the lead in the fourth and fifth scoring one run in each to leave things knotted at 5. Ethan Booth came in to pitch and kept the Owls off the board in the sixth and seventh with 4 big strikeouts. In the bottom of the seventh, a lead off single by Gavin Matchell put the winning run on first. Josh Dement was called on to pinch run and moved over to third on a wild pitch and sac bunt by Salvador Flores. Kailis Mayo then drove a ball deep to left allowing Dement to score on a walk-off sac fly as the Panthers won 6-5.
Nick Dolci made the start in game two and made quick work of the Owls in the first. The Principia offense was unleashed in the second as they began the inning with 7 hits in a row and eventually poured on 7 runs. In the third, the Panthers weren't finished as they would seem to put the game out of reach by tacking on 5 more runs to take a commanding 12-0 lead. However, Presque Isle wouldn't go down with out a fight as they slowly chipped away at the lead. After the Panthers scored 2 to extend their lead to 14-4 in the fifth, the Owls scored 6 in the sixth to cut the lead to 14-10. Charlie Reiss came in for the seventh and shut the door with 3 strikeouts to end the threat for a Panthers sweep. When asked about how he felt in his performance yesterday, Reiss said "It felt like every other day. I come in, I throw gas, and I slam the door closed".
Stat of the Game: The Panthers picked up 20 hits in the 7 inning game, which ranks second all-time for Panther hits in a game, one behind the 2014 team that picked up 21 hits at Eureka.
Did You Know: This was the first win in Florida since 2017 when the Panthers took two against D'Youville College. The Panthers traveled to California the following two years and were set to return to Florida in 2020, but the trip was canceled due to the pandemic. This also marks Principia's first five-game win streak since 2018.
Marston's Minute: "This was a great way for us to open our Spring Training trip! We jumped out to an early lead in game one and had to figure out a way to pull out the win in game one. We work on making sure we're executing the little things like when Cook was backing up third after a fly ball to centerfield, and when a throw got away, we picked up the out at third because he did his job after the play. We also saw some unselfish baseball with Salvy getting the pinch hit AB and sacking Dement to third allowing him to score on Mayo's walk-off sac fly. Reiss has been fun to watch on the mound as he comes in pounding the zone."
Up Next: The Panthers will face University of Maine Farmington on Tuesday at 4:45 pm ET for a single 9 inning game.
