Having played only five games from the start of the season, Head Coach Eric Johnson expects great things to come from the Panthers as they have already matched their win ratio from last season and is proud of the team who has had the best start in six years in this year’s season. In the last season, the Panther’s baseball team had four wins and 21 losses; however, this season the Panthers have matched their wins early in their season, with four wins out of the five games they’ve played thus far.
On Friday the 18th, Laurel came to the Panthers’ first home game. A combination effort between starting pitcher Kendan Allen and the catchers in the outfield prevented Laurel from getting a single run in the entire game. Many of the batters for the Panthers hit singles, but as the bases were loaded, Camon Ivy managed to hit a triple that earned the Panther’s three runs. The game concluded with Panthers in the lead with 10 and Laurel with 0.
On the 22nd, Ivy pitched four innings and struck out five batters from the Southeast Lauderdale team. Southeast was ahead by one run in the top of the first inning. Panthers batted mainly singles and managed five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Southeast evened the score with four runs in the top of the fifth inning and later scored the tie breaker at the top of the sixth inning. The Panthers lost the game with the Panthers only having five runs and Southeast with six runs.
On the 26th, Panthers were up against the Raymond Rangers. The Panthers gained a huge lead against the Rangers with nine runs in the bottom of the first inning. The pitcher, Austin Shirley, struck out two batters, and the basemen outed each runner in the first and second innings. Panthers scored two additional runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Rangers scored one run in the top of the third inning with the Panthers finishing the game with five runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Panthers won the game with 16 runs and Rangers with only one run.
Later that day, the Panthers faced the Forest Bearcats with Allen serving as pitcher. The Bearcats pulled ahead in the lead with a total of four runs in the first and second innings. Kade Hamrick was fast on his toes as he managed to score one run for the Panthers at the bottom of the first inning. The Bearcats scored one run in the top of the fourth inning, but the Panthers were quickly closing the gap as they scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Panthers overcame the Bearcats at the bottom of the fifth inning with three runs. In the sixth inning, each team managed only one run before the game concluded with the Panthers winning a very close game against the Bearcats. The final score was Panthers 8 and Bearcats 6.
