Baseball takes one of two over Westminster

GREENVILLE, Ill. -- The baseball team collected a split against Westminster in a Wednesday night doubleheader in Greenville.  The Panthers lost 6-2 in game one and recovered from a 5-0 first inning deficit to blast the Blue Jay 16-6 in game two.

In the first game, Travis Ralls delivered a first inning two-run homer to give the Panthers an early 2-0 advantage, but their bats were held at bay the rest of the way as Westminster scored the tying runs in the top of the second inning and one run in each inning from the fourth to the seventh.

Starting pitcher Adam Lamb was charged with the loss, and he pitched five innings, allowing four runs.

Sam Hodges posted three hits, and Klaiton Wolff and Austin Marsh produced two hits.

Game two saw the Blue Jays score five first inning runs, but the Panthers stormed back, reaching Westminster's starting pitcher for 10 runs and cruising to a 16-6 seven-inning win.

All players in Greenville's starting lineup delivered a hit and scored a run in the contest.  Wolff, Andrew Torbeck, and Chandler Dix all had three hits.  Ralls, Wolff, and Dix scored three times each.

The Panthers scored once in the second, four times in the fourth, eight runs in the fifth, and two in the sixth.

Wolff, Hodges, and Dix hit home runs with Wolff's ending the game in the seventh.

Reliever Austin Rexroad was the winning pitcher with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.  He yielded the mound to Sam Alendar for an inning and Tucker Rappe for two innings.  Starting pitcher Logan Murphy went 1.1 innings, allowing Westminster's first inning runs.

The Panthers (9-14, 4-6 SLIAC) travel to MacMurray for a three-game series that starts on Friday.