By Shaya Silberstein
The Purchase Panthers won their first game of the season on March 8, as they defeated the St. Lawrence Saints 9-1 in seven innings as they improved to a 1-4 record.
The Panthers succumbed in their first game of the day against the St. Lawrence Saints in this doubleheader by 1-4.
The Panthers started off with five runs, led by senior economics major Mason Compton, who hit a grand slam in the first inning.
“He [Compton] hit the grand slam in the first inning too with two outs. Where it looked like we could've gotten off the field, and scored one gifted run to us," said Head Coach Adam Taraska. "Instead, he hits one over the wall and hits the biggest swing of our season so far. It allowed our team to sail a little bit and take a breath, and so we are good and we can do this. We waited for a moment like that all season long to the point.”
Compton spoke of his grand slam, saying, “Ball was really big, swung first pitch,” while he talked about the rest of the offense breaking, “It's nice to get some runs, as we should.”
While in the second inning, The Saints scored four runs off of Liam Daly, a junior history major, who was named Preseason All American by D3 Baseball.com as Taraska sung him praises. “He’s very deserving of that; he’s been our best player for the past two years and into this third season," said Taraska. "He's a phenomenal player and one of the leaders on this team on the field.”
While the rest of the offense came on a two run double by Luke Ciszewski in the second inning.
On the pitching, Christian Miesegaes pitched a complete game, allowing one run, five hits, while striking out four batters. An improvement from his last game, where he allowed six runs and 10 hits.
On his improvement, Taraska spoke on the performance, “Christian did a phenomenal job, and that’s what you’re gonna see every time Christian Miesegaes pitches is an ownership of the strike zone, balls in play.” Miesegaes did pick up four strikeouts, which surprised him. In the sixth, the bases were loaded, and there were no outs, yet, “He [Miesegaes] only allowed one run, which came off a sac fly, a masterclass in pitching today from him,” said Taraska.
Miesegaes spoke of the team performance and how it led to him being able to pitch with a big lead. “Great job by the team, jump on them early, score nine in first two innings, really easy pitching with that big of a lead," he said. "Put the ball in the middle and good things happen.”
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