Will The Panthers’ Tough Losses On Opening Day Set the Precedent for the Rest of the Season?
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Lena Flamm
While the opening of baseball season is often associated with the start of spring, it hardly felt that way on a foggy, windy 37℉ morning on the Purchase baseball field. A crowd of 175 were in attendance, many of whom opted out of a seat on the wet metal bleachers, instead encircling the sideline fence in foldable lawn chairs carried from trunks across the mud-spattered parking lot, swaddled in an eclectic mix of Mets, Yankees and Red Sox blankets. It was obviously not many family members’ first rodeo. “He’s been playing since he was seven years old, so I’m definitely a baseball mom,” said Patrica Tavares, who came to watch her son, freshman left fielder Christian Galarza’s Panthers, debut. “I have my scarf, I have a hood, I have a fleece jacket, I bring blankets, I got my own little beach chair so I can be cuddled.” For all the fans and family sporting blue Panthers paraphernalia, there were just as many who made the trek out in St. Lawrence University red. “I came from Boston, so a little over three hours,” said Bob Gannon, father of St. Lawrence Saints first baseman John Gannon. “This is a close one. Usually they’re six.”
After a 2025 season of almosts that left the Panthers eliminated from playoff contention in the last game of the regular season, it seemed to Purchase fans that this murky double-header held great importance.
As soon as the Saints’ Mike Siano stepped up to the plate, squaring off against pitcher Brandon Reybok, both dugouts were crackling with energy. When first baseman Liam Daly caught the ball before Siano could reach first base, the Purchase dugout erupted. The Panthers defense was showcasing great defensive capabilities in the top of the first inning, but the momentum didn’t last for long.
In the top of the second, the first run was put on the board by the Saints’ Nolan Widrick, who sent the ball soaring on a gorgeous arc into the outfield, and promptly advanced all the way to second base, with John Donnellan advancing to third and Willie Landman arriving at home base soon after. Widrick’s double would be the play that instilled a new confidence into the visiting team and set off their forward momentum. “It’s good to see Widdy get going,” said Siano. “He’s kind of a little spark plug at the end of the order.”
At the bottom of the second, Tyler Della Mura, Patrick Reyes, and Michael Pagano struck out consecutively. With five innings left to play, Coach Taraska and the team needed a play that would quiet the groans coming from beyond the fence. But the noise continued through the top of the fourth, when the expressions of disappointment were only inaudible because of cheers coming from the other side of the diamond as Max Cloutier scored the Saints’ second run on a wild pitch.
The Panthers continued to fight, but their fate was sealed in the seventh when the Saints’ Eddie Morrissey made the score 0-3 with an unearned run after Ethan Harris’ sacrifice fly. Purchase was unable to answer at the bottom of the inning, and their 2026 season record became 0-1.
At the break before the commencement of the afternoon game, Panthers’ first baseman Daly, returning after being named 2025’s Skyline Conference Baseball Player of the Year, was confident the team could turn it around. “We had a tough loss, but it wasn’t as bad as the scoreboard says. We only gave up two earned runs, and the offense didn’t click, but this is only our second time outside. We got hit with the blizzard last week, so we just need to adjust.” As for the weather, he didn’t seem too bothered. “Hopefully, the guys are used to the cold. I mean, it’s cold up here, this is the Northeast.”
Over by the visitors dugout, Siano was wishing for warmer conditions. “It was freezing, I’m not gonna lie,” he said, “but you kinda just gotta battle through it.” As for the first game performance, though shutting out the opposing team, he wasn’t entirely satisfied. “We were swinging on too many balls, I would say, to start the game, so we gotta dial in our approach a little bit, and see a fastball, crush it.”
As game two went into the bottom of the first, it seemed the Panthers adjusted exactly as Daly intended. When designated hitter Frank Rega doubled to left field, it set off a chain of events that saw Daly, Jordan Cassuto and Tristen Abreu all score.
The Panthers did not move forward with the stimulus the fans had hoped for. Innings 2-4 were a scoreless standoff; both defenses holding strong. The fifth saw the Saints advance the score to 3-2 after Widrick scored a run, followed by Eoin Morrissey after a sacrifice bunt. In the sixth, the Saints’ score continued to climb, with John Gannon doubling to left field and Eddie Morrissey tying the game, followed by Jack Finnegan with a triple to right center, allowing Widrick and Gannon to cross home base. All too suddenly, Purchase’s lead had vanished, and the seventh and final inning arrived with them trailing 3-5. The Panthers defense prevented another score with the Saints at bat, but as the bottom of the seventh began, the tension hadn’t been more palpable all day. The Panthers needed to recreate the magic of the first inning to emerge victorious from this match.
The Panthers successfully advanced onto each base. In the game’s final moments, with Dominick Coniglio at bat, the bases were loaded, Della Mura on first, Kyle Coy on second and Jackson Marchetti on third. There had been two outs. Three more points on the board were possible, but it was now or never. In the final seconds, the play was unsuccessful, and Della Mura was tagged out.
The visitor’s side of the field exploded with cheers, a hard-earned victory bringing sunshine to a gray afternoon. Coach Collins was exceptionally proud. “We definitely had some younger guys step up today, which is a really good sign,” he said. “We just kind of tried to do more of the same, just do it better in the second game. The biggest thing was that they throw a lot of off-speed pitches and we just had to be ready for that. We were kind of selling out to fastball in the first game and we got burned a little bit, so making that adjustment,” he said when asked about the key strategy changes he made between games.
“For the upcoming season, I hope our hitting will be better,” said Daly. “Our pitching was good today, and I know the capability of our hitting. We’ve done very well the last month and a half, and we just need to adjust, that’s all.”
A Panthers fan would like to believe the team’s opening-day performance will not be a harbinger of the season ahead. A tough loss can often be the catalyst for outstanding growth. As learned from last year, a postseason can never be taken for granted, and every regular-season game is crucial.
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