ELSAH, IL – The Principia Baseball team hosted the Maranatha Baptist Sabercats from Wisconsin for a three game series this weekend. This is the third season in a row that the two teams have played each other, with the Panthers having won all four of their previous meetings.
The series began on Friday as Logan Cadey received the start on a chilly evening in Elsah. After Cadey worked his way out of an early bases loaded jam in the first, the Panthers took the lead in the bottom of the first with back-to-back, two out doubles by Ryan D'Amico and Gavin Matchell. The Principa offense then exploded for 13 runs on 9 hits in the third, including a home run by D'Amico, and doubles by D'Amico, Matchell, Kailis Mayo, and Ben Perrine. Cadey's only blemish was two run single in the top of the fourth, but the Panthers had a commanding 14-2 lead. The Panthers plated two more in the fourth, and eight more in the fifth, including a home run by Rat Mean, a triple by Cole Christensen, and a double by Josh Bayless. Gavin Brustman threw three strong innings in relief as the Panthers ran away with game one 24-3.
Saturday's doubleheader featured two much closer contests. Micah Cook was on the bump for Principia in the first game of the day, and he fired 6 quality innings with 6 strikeouts. The Panthers got on the board first in the bottom of the second on a Cole Christensen RBI single to take the 1-0 lead. In the top of the third, back-to-back doubles gave the Sabercats their first lead of the series. The Panthers would respond in the bottom of the third by tying the game on an RBI single by Ryan D'Amico. Braxton Ramsey showed his speed beating out a ground ball to shortstop followed by a steal of second. After Ramsey scored the go-ahead run on an error, a Dean Wood RBI single followed by a Ben Perrine home run would stretch Principia's lead to 6-2. The Panthers scored an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth before turning things over to Charlie Reiss, who slammed the door with three strikeouts for the 7-2 victory.
The Sabercats would play their best game in the final matchup of the series led by a stellar pitching performance by Judson Martin. Nick Dolci made his first career start for Principia as he also threw 6 quality innings with 7 strikeouts. After MBU took a two-run lead in the top of the first, Dolci would settle in and keep the Sabercats off balance and off the board the rest of the game. After the Panthers failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position in both the third and fifth innings, Ryan D'Amico finally got Principia on the board in the sixth with his SLIAC-leading fourth home run of the season to cut the lead to one. Cole Christensen then came in and threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Panthers in the top of the seventh.
Down to their final out in the bottom of the seventh, an error gave Principia a base runner, and Ben Perrine capitalized with a clutch RBI double to the right center gap to tie the game. "It felt amazing," said Ben afterwards. "I was confident stepping into the box after having to settle myself down. I was just glad the team got their energy back." Into extra innings, Charlie Reiss was called on and he delivered again with a 1-2-3 inning. With the extra inning runner placed at second, D'Amico was intentionally walked to start the bottom of the eighth. On the very next pitch, Gavin Matchell crushed a walk-off double off the wall in left to complete the comeback and series sweep.
Stat of the Series: The Panthers offense set a NCAA-era school record scoring 24 runs in a single game. The damage was done by way of two home runs, a triple, seven doubles and nine singles. The record was previously 23 runs set on March 3, 2011 against St. Louis Christian.
Did You Know: Game three of the series was the Panthers' first walk-off win since March 23, 2019 when Principia hit a walk-off home run to beat Iowa Wesleyan University. Gavin Matchell was asked about how it felt to drive in the winning run in today's game: "It felt like a massive relief, not only personally, but as a teammate. I had been struggling at the plate and wasn't picking up pitches like I'm normally able to do. So when the pitcher walked D'Amico, I was slightly worried because of my previous at bats, but I stayed calm and thankfully he pitched the ball right in my wheelhouse."
Marston's Minute: "It was great to see the bats come alive in the first game of the series on Friday. The Maranatha pitchers did a good job keeping us off balance on Saturday, and we had to figure out a way to grind it out. Our pitching did a great job of keeping us in the games, and our bats were able to come through."
Up Next: The Panthers will be heading to Florida next weekend for spring break to play six games in the RussMatt College Baseball Invitational. Be sure to follow along on our social media and the Athletics website!
