Panthers celebrate Senior Night by edging Atlanta Christian
April 22, 2008

LaGrange built an early lead and held on for an 8-7 win over Atlanta Christian on Senior Night at Cleaveland Field on Tuesday. The Panthers closed out the regular season with a 23-17 record. The Chargers fell to 14-33 on the season.

Nine LaGrange seniors were honored in pre-game ceremonies. The game was the last regular season game for Jesse Brown, Lee Fite, Seth Harris, Cory Matticola, Jose Navarro, Justin Phelps, Michael Sims, Jimmy Statler and Seth Tucker.

Sims and Tucker each played all nine positions in the game. It was the first time that two LaGrange players have accomplished the feat in the same game. The last time a Panther played all nine positions was Stan Williamson on April 23, 2002 in his Senior Night game against Talladega.

Phelps picked up the win on the mound. He pitched into the sixth inning, allowing two earned runs on four hits. David Tillis allowed three runs in two innings of work. Tucker gave up an unearned run in the eighth inning. Sims got one out in the ninth inning before Jonathan Chapman came on and got the final two outs for his fifth save of the season.

Tucker, Navarro and Trey Walker all had three hits as part of the Panthers' 13-hit attack. Fite, Tucker and Patrick Langley each had two RBIs. Matticola hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth inning.

The two teams swapped runs in the first two innings. Sims had a leadoff double in the first and scored as Langley reached on an error. In the second, Walker led off with a single and later scored on Fite's ground out.

The Panthers broke the 2-2 tie in the fourth inning. Walker and Navarro led off the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Walker scored as Fite reached on a fielder's choice for the first run of the inning. Tucker capped the inning with a two-run double down the left field line to put the Panthers up 5-2.

Matticola led off the fifth with his home run over the right center field fence off reliever Dave Smetana to make it 6-2. A walk to Statler and back-to-back hits by Walker and Navarro loaded the bases. Statler came home as Brown flied out center field to up the Panthers' lead to 7-2.

Tillis relieved Phelps in the sixth inning after the Chargers had loaded the bases with no outs. Tillis escaped the jam with two strikeouts and got Colt Lynn to fly out to end the inning.

The Chargers touched Tillis for three runs in the top of the seventh to cut the Panthers' lead to 7-5. They got within one run in the eighth with the unearned run off Tucker.

The Panthers added an insurance run in their half of the eighth. With two outs, Tucker doubled to right center to keep the inning going. Langley followed with an opposite field single to left to drive in Tucker to make it 8-6.

The run became huge in the ninth inning. The Chargers drew within a run, 8-7, after Darryl Thomas' sacrifice fly off Sims. Chapman came in for Sims and retired the next two batters to end the game.

The Panthers will host the GSAC Championship Tournament that begins Friday. The Panthers, seeded third, will face Huntingdon at 7 p.m.