The Panthers baseball team and Bridgewater College split an Old Dominion Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader this past Sun. April 2 at Panther Field, with the Eagles taking the opener 13-11 and the Panthers grabbing the nightcap 7-6.

The Panthers struck first on Russel Golembe’s two-run single to left in the bottom of the second. Elijah Byrd, freshman, drove in a run in the fifth, to extend the lead to 3-0. Bridgewater scored five runs in the fifth inning to take the lead and two more in the sixth for a 7-3 lead. A huge six-run sixth helped build a 13-4 lead after the first eight and a half innings in the opener. The Panthers responded with a six-run eighth of their own, cutting the lead to 13-10. The Panthers got one more in the ninth, seeing their comeback fall short.

Key stats from game one include:

Bridgewater: SP Reid Long (W, 2-3) 6 inn, 7 hits, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Timothy Hopson 2-4, 2 runs, 3 RBI, SB; Jeffrey Snider 2-3, 2B, 3 runs, 3 BB.
Ferrum: RP Wyatt Chaffin, freshman, (L, 0-1) 1 inn, 1 hit, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Byrd 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Golembe 2-3, run, 2 RBI, SB.

In the second game, Brandon Hartman homered in the first inning to left field, to take an early 1-0 lead for Bridgewater. The Panthers responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning. An error and wild pitch allowed the Eagles to plate two runs and lead 3-1 in the fourth. The Panthers again answered with two runs, Ozzie Tores, senior, hit a sac fly, and Shawn Baxter, sophomore drove in a run off a single through the left side.

Ben Thomas tripled to left center and drove in two runs to take a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning. Grayson Chitwood, senior, added an RBI single in the sixth to push the lead to 6-3. Hartman brought Bridgewater back in the game with a two-run double down the left-field line and scored on an error to tie things up 6-6.

Tores RBI single to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in the game-winning win in the nightcap for the Panthers.

Key stats for game two include:

Ferrum: Baxter 4-5, run, RBI, stolen base; RP Cameron Mullins, senior, (W, 2-3) 6 inn, 7 hits, 0 ER, 5 K; Torres 2-4, run, 2 RBI.
Bridgewater: RP Brett Tharp (L, 1-4) 1.1 inn, 1 hit, 1 ER, 2 K, 3-5, run; Hartman 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 runs.

Coach Ryan Brittle‘s team will suit up again today at 5 p.m. against Pfeiffer in Misenheimer, NC.