CLAYTON, MO – The Principia Baseball team took on the Fontbonne Griffins in a midweek conference series. Due to the constraints of poor weather and playing on a busy high school field, the games occurred on Tuesday and Thursday evenings instead of the normal doubleheader schedule for SLIAC contests.
In game one on Tuesday,
Charlie Reiss made his second start on the mound and gave the Panthers a good one. After a scoreless first three innings, the Griffins scored two in the third on a double, triple, and single. Reiss finished with four strikeouts in five innings while scattering five hits and two runs. The Panthers surrendered three runs on two hits in the sixth as Fontbonne took a 5-0 lead. In the seventh,
Gavin Matchell worked a lead off walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Then with two outs,
Braxton Ramsey doubled to left center picking up the RBI. Fontbonne knocked in six runs in the eighth on up six hits and two Principia errors which allowed the Griffins reach a ten run lead to walk off with an 11-1 win.
Game two on Thursday started off promising for the Panthers with a lead off double by
Josh Dement, but Fontbonne's starter was able to strand him at second. The Griffins loaded the bases in the bottom of the first and a double scored three. Panthers starter,
Nick Dolci, settled in got out of the inning with Fontbonne up 4-0. The Panthers responded in the top of the second as
Gavin Matchell drew a lead off walk and
Braxton Ramsey hit an RBI triple to right center.
Josh Bayless then flew out to center scoring Ramsey from third. The Griffins countered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to take a 6-2 lead. After Dolci threw a quick 1-2-3 third inning, the Griffins would extend their lead by three in the fourth.
Ethan Booth pitched the fifth and gave up one run to make it 10-2.
In the sixth,
Ryan D'Amico reached on a hit by pitch, then
Kailis Mayo singled and Matchell walked to load the bases.
Braxton Ramsey stayed hot with a singled to pick up two more RBIs. Then a sac fly by
Rat Mean cut the lead to five. The Griffins would seal the deal in the bottom of the inning by scoring eight runs on four hits. Instead of going quietly in the seventh, the Panthers picked up two more runs thanks to a Dement double, D'Amico single, Mayo RBI single, Matchell walk, and Ramsey RBI ground out. In the end, Fontbonne won by a final score of 18-7.
Marston's Minute: "It was great to see our pitching perform in game one. Reiss looked really good and it was a close game through seven. Credit their pitcher for keeping us off balance. It was good to see our bats get going in game two. Ramsey and D'Amico had a good series at the plate. We have our bright moments but need to figure out a way to string them together. We've seen solid pitching, hitting, and fielding but still need to put it all together. We're young and developing, so it's been some hard lessons were learning, but the bright spots are there."
Up Next: The Panthers will host conference leader, Spalding University, on Saturday with first pitch at noon.
