The Principia College baseball team pulled out a big victory 6-5 against a tough Robert Morris College squad on the road. Sophomore Samuel Thomas came out of the bullpen and pitched 5 strong innings for his 8th win of the season (Samuel’s 8 wins sets a new Principia College single season record). The win brings Principia to 16 wins on the season, which is the second most wins in school history, one win shy of the record set last season.
Senior Stuart Waller started on the mound and he pitched 3 quality innings. When Stu left the game, we were leading 3-1. Sophomore Greg Ball then threw one inning, while allowing one run. The team scored 3 runs in the top of the 5th, so Samuel entered the game in the bottom of the 5th with a 5-2 cushion. In the bottom of the 7th, Robert Morris put together a rally to tie the game.
In the 8th, Robbie Nickell walked with the bases loaded and forced home teammate Alan Cheatham what proved to be the game-winning run. In the bottom of the 8th, Robert Morris had the bases load with 2 outs. Samuel ended the Robert Morris threat by striking out the final batter in the 8th. He then struck out two of the three final batters in the bottom of the 9th to secure the victory.
Offensively, Robbie Nickell had three terrific at-bats, while Alan Cheatham, Matt Bowman, and Justin MacDonald drove in other big runs in route to the win.
The team plays their last 3 games of the season at home on Friday and Saturday against SLIAC opponent Spalding University. First pitch on Friday night will be at 6:00pm.