Panthers top Virginia Wesleyan for third straight win::Baseball :: LaGrange College

Panthers top Virginia Wesleyan for third straight win
April 3, 2008

NORFOLK, Va. – LaGrange remained perfect on its Spring Break trip with an 11-5 win over Virginia Wesleyan on Thursday. The game was called after eight innings due to darkness. The Panthers (17-11) are 3-0 on the trip with a game remaining against No. 6 Salisbury State on Friday.

Sophomore Robbie Shelton powered the Panthers' 11-hit attack. Shelton drove in five runs with a grand slam and a single. Seth Tucker was 3-for-3 including a double, scored two runs and drove in another. Michael Sims also had two hits, including a double.

Nick Vitale (3-1) pitched five innings to get the win. He allowed all five runs; only two earned, while walking four and striking out four. Jonathan Chapman pitched three scoreless innings to get his second save on the trip. Chapman retired nine of the 10 batters he faced, while striking out two.

The two teams swapped runs in the first two innings. Sims led off the game in the first with a ground-rule double. He later scored on Cory Matticola's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. The Marlins tied the game in their half of the second with an unearned run.

The Panthers scored five runs in the top of the third inning to take the lead for good. The Panthers loaded the bases on a base hit by Sims and back-to-back walks to Tucker and Patrick Langley. Matticola walked to force in a run to make it 2-1. Shelton followed with an opposite field blast to left field for his first his collegiate grand slam and a 6-1 lead. It was Shelton's second home run of the season.

In the fourth inning, the Panthers increased their lead to 10-2. They got four runs on just three hits and were aided by two Marlin errors in the inning. Tucker, Shelton and Blake Allen all had run-scoring singles in the inning.

The Panthers got their final run in the sixth inning. Matticola led off the inning with a base hit up the middle. He moved up to second on a wild pitch and over to third on a fly out. Jesse Brown drove in Matticola with a base hit through the left side for the 11-5 final score.