Since March 4, the Panthers have played a total of 11 games, and from those games they came out 3-8.
Their most recent games were a two-game series against Houston Baptist. The Panthers played tough, but went down two straight games to their opponents. The first game was at Prairie View on March 14. Wrandal Taylor got the start for Prairie View, and as he tried to maintain the batters, Houston Baptist kept the Panther defense moving. The Panthers tried to match with their bats, but didn’t score their first runs until the fifth inning.
In the seventh inning, Prairie View finally found their groove and continued to attack. Houston Baptist rung up eight runs on the scoreboard while the Panthers could only bring home six.
In the ninth, the Panthers continued to fight scoring two runs, but they were too minimal to capture the win, ending the game 10-16. With the loss, the Panthers stranded 12 men on base, and amassed four errors. Taylor racked up six strikeouts, Josh Lara with five, Brandon Kendricks and John Villapando had three hits apiece, as Villapando hit for three RBIs.
The next day, the Panthers traveled to Houston for the second game in the series. They had the slight advantage over Houston Baptist, managing to keep them at bay until the sixth inning where they found a way to score four runs that tied the game.
In the seventh inning, a Prairie View error led to the Houston Baptist game winning run. The Panthers’ quick feet could not seem to cross the plate to tie or take the win, taking the their second Houston Baptist loss, 7-8.
Charlie Aceto and Conrad Limas had four strikeouts apiece. George McDonald’s quick bat brought in four hits and five RBIs. Manuel Tabares added with three hits.
The Panthers will get back into the thick of conference play with a three-game series against Texas Southern, March 22-23 starting at 1 p.m. in Houston, Texas.