The first place Greenville College Panthers came to Carlinville on Friday afternoon and narrowly escaped with a win over Blackburn. The Beavers dropped a close one by a score of 7-6.

Blackburn got on the board with a lone run in the first. Vinnie Birk (Swansea, Ill.) led off with a double and came around to score on a Jon Lowry (Peoria Heights, Ill.) fielder's choice. Greenville tacked on one of their own in the second but the Birk scored again for Blackburn in the 3rd on a Matt Mokriakow (Glen Carbon, Ill.) sacrifice fly to the warning track in left.

Again, the Panthers knotted things up in the fourth. The Beavers answered with a three-run inning in their half of the fourth courtesy of a Greenville error, a Tylor Klipfel (Saugus, Cali.) single, and a Birk sacrifice fly.

Greenville climbed back into it and finally had the game tied up again heading into the eighth. The Panthers scored two and the Beavers only scored one on an Aaron Moody (Navarino, Wisc.) RBI single. Greenville held off Blackburn in the ninth to take game one of the series.

Freshman Tyler Morgan (Mt. Vernon, Ill.) threw six innings and allowed just four runs while surrendering eleven hits and three walks. He struck out five on the day and his ERA now sits at 3.10. Another freshman Tyler Durand (Mt. Zion, Ill.) came out of the bullpen late and struck out three through 1.2 innings of work. Durand now has 17 strikeouts in 15.1 innings and has a team-leading ERA of 2.93.

Klipfel was the only BC hitter with multiple hits in the game. Walter Jarvis (Glendale, Ariz.) made his first collegiate start as the Blackburn designated hitter and went 1-2 with a walk. Doug Matas (Youngstown, Ohio) scored two runs for the Beavers as did Birk. 

Weather permitting, the series will wrap-up tomorrow night at Greenville with a doubleheader slated for a 5:00 PM first pitch.