After flying high against Seabreeze last Tuesday, Eustis came back down to earth. The Eustis Panthers fell just short of the Umatilla Bulldogs by a score of 6-4 on Friday. The result was an unpleasant reminder to Eustis of the 6-5 defeat they experienced in the pair's previous head-to-head fixture back in April of 2023.
Julien Radcliffe put in work no matter where he played. He struck out nine batters over four innings while giving up three earned runs off only two hits. Radcliffe was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Ledger Pleasant was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double. Another player making a difference was Eli Feld, who scored a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Even though they lost, Eustis didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 11 strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Umatilla only tossed five.
On Umatilla's side, they got a great performance from Logan Bowling as he pitched six innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits.
At the plate, Kannon Steinke was excellent, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Tate Bagwell, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Eustis' loss dropped their record down to 9-8. As for Umatilla, their victory bumped their record up to 12-4.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Eustis will take on DeLand at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. DeLand's pitching crew has only allowed 2.8 runs per game this season, so Eustis' hitters will have their work cut out for them. As for Umatilla, they will head out on the road to face off against Tavares at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Umatilla is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
