As most people know, the Coronavirus has been changing everything, especially in sports, at all levels. Even with all the chaos, the Greenville Panthers had an amazing spring break with a lot of fun moments. Assistant coach Andy Rincker said, “This is a business trip,” and the Panthers took care of business with a 5-1 record in Florida.
Spring break for the Panthers started by leaving Greenville at 6 pm on Friday and driving through the night to get to Florida for practice on Saturday. Sunday, the team got to their houses and pressed play on the experiences that they will never forget; especially for freshman catcher, Logan Garrick, who said, “This is the farthest I have been away from home.”
Game one of the trip, the Panthers won 5-3 against WPI thanks to a stellar performance from a senior pitcher, Sam Alender. Alender went six innings, giving up 3 runs and striking out 3 hitters. The Panthers had a four-run inning in the fifth with freshman, Landon Mokris, hitting a two-run double and seniors Klaiton Wolff and Grant Carman giving out RBIs. Closing the game was senior Logan Murphy, receiving his second career save! The panthers fell in game two of the doubleheader against WPI 13-0, splitting the series.
To see full game one stats, click here and to see full game two stats, click here.
Game three of spring break, the Panthers bounced back with a dub over Oneonta 11-7. The Panthers had three batters that drove in two runs and those batters were Drew Frey, Sam Hodges, and Mark Islas. Islas also stole three bags! Wolff started this game and threw six innings, giving up four runs while striking out seven hitters. The pitching that relieved Wolff was very impressive and kept the Panthers in the game, eventually leading to Lukas Whitten closing out the game and Parker Lutz picking up his first career collegiate win. Not to mention this win was Coach Carlson’s 500 career win!
To see full game three stats, click here.
Panthers took the series 2-0 against Suffolk, 10-8 in the fourth game and 7-3 in the fifth! The Panthers’ lineup put on a show with four extra-base hits, a Wolff home run, double by Frey, and two doubles by Joe Wood! Murphy threw the first game and gave the Panthers 5 and 2/3 innings, then handed it over to Jaxen Gibson who threw very well this game. In the second game of the day, the Panthers had Whitten on the mound and he threw a complete game, giving up three runs and striking out six hitters. Also, in this game, the Panthers had baserunning as the big part of their offense with seven stolen bases.
To see full game four stats, click here and to see full game five stats, click here.
For Game 6, the Panthers took the win in this game against Loras with a score of 6-2. All the seniors played, left everything on the field, and came away with great performances to lead the Panthers this game and the entire year. After the game, the emotions came out as many players embraced their families after this great week of baseball.
To see full Game 6 stats, click here.
From the experience from Florida, Lutz as an upperclassman this year had a lot of experience to share with a younger club that Greenville Panthers had this year. Lutz said one of his most important tasks this year was “just knowing my role and making sure my job is done.” This shows that the team have their assigned roles to make sure that everything runs smoothly. His performance was very impressive, but he said, “I only gave up one hit and no runs, but I feel like I can always improve.”
To see all the fun that the Panthers had in Florida, check out these videos!
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