CARLINVILLE, IL – The Principia Baseball team closed out their season with a road SLIAC doubleheader at Blackburn College. The Panthers came in still without a SLIAC win this season, but that changed on Thursday.
Principia jumped out to an early lead in game one with a huge seven run first inning. After back-to-back singles by
Josh Dement and
Cole Christensen, Dement would score on a throwing error. A
Ryan D'Amico RBI single, a
Braxton Ramsey double, and a
Kailis Mayo RBI single made the score 3-0. After Ramsey scored on a
Ben Perrine RBI groundout,
Gavin Matchell doubled and
Skyler Stock walked to load the bases. Matchell scored on an error, and then Dement came up again and hit a 2 RBI single before the Beavers switched pitchers and a pop up finally ended the inning.
Micah Cook got the start for the Panthers and screw a scoreless opening frame. In the top of the second, Mayo came up and hit a two-run homer to left to extend Principia's lead to 9-0. This was Principia's 31st long ball of 2024 to set a new program record for team home runs in one season.
Blackburn would chip away over the next few innings as the lead was cut to 9-5 by the end of the fourth. The Panthers added three runs in the fifth on two RBI singles by Christensen and Ramsey as well as a run on a wild pitch. After the Beavers got one run in the sixth and two runs in the seventh, Principia matched them with one in the seventh on a Ramsey sac fly and two in the eighth on a 2 RBI single by Christensen.
Ethan Booth came in to pitch the final two innings as he only gave up one earned run to close out the Panthers first conference win of 2024, 15-10. This is the second year in a row that Principia has defeated Blackburn for their lone SLIAC victory.
After the offensive outburst in game one, the Panthers were unable to get anything going in game two as they fell 10-0 in eight innings.
Stat of the Game: Josh Dement had an incredible first game going a perfect 6-6 with two doubles, three runs, two RBI, and a stolen base. The six hits in one game is the most ever on record in program history.
Principia finishes their season with nine wins, which is four more than the last two seasons combined. While the team still has a ways to go to get where they want to be, the roster is still very young and showed a ton of offensive promise this season with their new team records for home runs in a season and runs scored in a game. The Panthers look forward to continued improvement in 2025!
