LaGrange staged a late inning rally for the second straight game to down Berry 12-9 on Tuesday night at Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium. The Panthers are off to a 3-0 start to the season for the first time since 2017.
The Panthers had 14 hits in the game, with six players having two hits apiece. Freshman Jorge Fragoso entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and had two hits and three RBIs. Junior designated hitter Nate Darwin had a double included in his two hits and drove in two runs.
Berry (3-2) got an unearned run in the top of the first inning off freshman Stephen Bartolotta, who was making his first collegiate start. Bartolotta pitched the first three innings, allowing the one run on two hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out two.
LC with the aid of the first of four Viking errors, picked up three runs in its half of the first. Cael Chatham forced in the first run with a bases-loaded walk. Jack Layrisson followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to drive in the second run. Darwin reached on a fielder's choice as Joe Ruth came home to make it 3-1.
The Panthers added a run in the second and another in the fifth to build a 5-1 lead. Ruth drove in the second inning run with a sacrifice fly to drive in Rhett Hebert, who had led off the inning with a single. In the fifth, McKinley Erves reached on a lead off error. He dashed home from third when Berry's second baseman John D'Amelio fell making a catch of Chatham's pop up behind second base.
D'Amelio jump started a seven-run sixth inning for the Vikings with a two-run home run over the left field fence. He finished the inning with a two-run single to give Berry an 8-5 lead.
The Panthers answered with a rally of their own in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Layrisson doubled to left center and Darwin followed with a double to right field to drive in the first run. Fragoso followed with his first collegiate hit, dropping a single down the left field line to make it a one-run game. Adam Dorn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded scored David Smigelski with the tying run. Erves hit a potential double play ball to second, but after getting the force out at second, shortstop Joey Garcia's throw got away allowing Hebert and Fragoso to score the go-ahead runs.
Berry picked up a run in the eighth to cut the Panthers' lead to 10-9. Reliever Ethan Kramer inherited a bases-loaded one out jam but got out of the inning with only the one run scoring. Fragoso gave the Panthers some insurance runs in the bottom of the inning. He hit a two-out two-run single to right center to put the Panthers up 12-9. Kramer retired the Vikings in order in the ninth, striking out two, to earn his first save of the season.
The Panthers take on Spalding in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday and ending with a game Sunday.
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