The Crestwood Panthers fell to 2-3 on the season on Tuesday losing 6-2 to the Southland Vikings at Dowling Park.  

The Panthers fell behind early to Southland 2-0 in the first inning, but attempted to respond with four hits in the first inning. Unfortunately, they left the bases loaded and failed to score.

They managed to get a tally in the second inning as a Malik Staples RBI single made 3-1 briefly. However, the Panthers bats would be silenced until the seventh inning when a Maurey Garret RBI groundout pushed across the only other Panther run.  

Aside from that, Connor Janik had a two hit day for Crestwood increasing his season batting average to .500 over his first five games. Brendan Slota, a newcomer, also had two hits on the game, which was shortened to seven innings.  

“I told [the team] that if we played all nine we would have scratched more across and put more pressure on them [Southland],” Coach D’Vante Glenn said after the game.    

Matt Maloney was the only rostered pitcher available on Tuesday, and pitched six innings for Crestwood. He settled in after giving up six runs in the first three innings to put up three straight shutout innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Coach Glenn loved effort that Maloney gave on the mound.  

“I was really happy to see him do what he did today,” Glenn said, “He got into his groove, made competitive pitches, and put us in a good position to win.”  

The Panthers are currently scheduled to play the Oilmen on Wednesday. The Panthers have lost their first two matchups against the Oilmen this season.  

“We gotta hit [tomorrow],” Coach Glenn said, “I want our pitchers to focus on living down in the zone, and getting a lot of ground balls and weak contact.”  

The Panthers also added two new players on Teusday in former Lindenwood infielder Brendan Slota and Olive Harvey commit Alex Las. Both made their Panther debut on Tuesday.  

(34) Brendan Slota / Infielder / Lindenwood University (Most Recently) / Providence Catholic High School / Homer Glen, Illinois Slota is in his first season with the Crestwood Panthers. He is a graduate of Providence Catholic High School where he lettered as a junior and senior. He most recently played collegiately at Lindenwood but has since left that progam. He is undecided on where his next collegiate stop will be.  

(3) Alex Las / Outfielder / Olive Harvey / Marian Catholic High School / Frankfort, Illinois. Las is in his first season with the Panthers. He is a recent graduate of Marian Catholic High School and plans to play for Olive Harvey next season.