LAKE WALES, Fla. - The Panthers baseball team took to the field for the second time during their 2012 Florida Trip on Tuesday.  The matchup for Davenport in game 2 was the Royals of Warner University.

The Panthers got off to a good start in the game as Jason Pierce led the game off with a single into left center.  Four batters later, Pierce would score when Jotham Woo, 2-5 on the day, hit a hot shot to the Royal third-baseman who was unable to handle the play.

The Royals tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning and it would stay tied into the 5th on the back of Panthers starting pitcher Drew Kennedy and some timely fielding like the diving catch made by Jotham Woo on a ball hit well down the right field line.

The game got away from the Panthers a bit in the bottom of the 5th inning as the Royals sent six batters to the plate and scored 3 runs to take a 4-1 lead.  The Royals would tack on 2 more in their half of the 7th to stretch the lead to 6-1.

Davenport showed some fight as AJ Wentzel pinch hit in the 8th with a single up the middle.  Chad Cline would pinch run for Wentzel and would eventually score after back to back errors by the Royals on balls hit by Eric Cummings and Jason Pierce.
 
The Panthers would also plate Austin Licon in the 9th inning to pull within 3 runs of the Royals.  However, the rally in the 9th would fall short and the Panthers dropped the game to the Royals by a final of 6-3.

Post-Game Notes – Chad Cline took advantage of his opportunities today going 1-1 at the plate, scored a run and had an RBI… DU plays again tomorrow at 4:00 pm as they travel to Lakeland, Fla. to face Webber International University…Check out www.dupanthers.com to follow the Panthers in Florida and all season via LiveStats and LiveAudio.

Post-Game Quotes – Kevin Tidey

On overall play of the team – I thought that as a team, we played the game of baseball better and more aggressive.  However, we still made quite a few mental mistakes that will continue to cause this team to struggle.

On guys stepping up – I was very pleased with the performance of the bullpen today and how a number of reserves stepped up in key moments for us today.  However, we still need key positions to start producing, until then it will be a challenge for this team to string wins together.