Panthers, Demons trade blowouts on baseball field

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

WASHINGTON ? There were a couple of blow outs when Washington and Mt. Pleasant met on the baseball field Thursday night, with both games ending 14-3. The only thing that changed was which team was on top.

The two squads split their first two games of the year with Mt. Pleasant taking game one, 14-3, and Washington flipping the script in game two, getting revenge with the same final score.

Mt. Pleasant?s offense was on fire in game one. The Panthers scored five runs in the first inning, one in the second, three in the third, two in the fifth and three in the sixth, all while holding the Demons to just three of their own.

The Panthers opened the scoring with a bases-loaded walk by Caleb Potts. Zach Beason knocked a run in. Zac Ebeling scored on a wild throw and Trace White brought two runners in with a hit to center field to make it 5-0.

Washington scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the first inning to cut the Panther lead to 5-3, but Cooper Huckabone helped Mt. Pleasant get a run back with an RBI single in the second inning.

Zach Beason, Chase Lamm and Keegan Rich all crossed the plate in the third inning to help stretch the lead to 9-3.

In the fifth inning, Lamm led off with a triple and scored on a Jordan Magnani sac fly, his second RBI of the day. Canby knocked in Rich a little later to make it 11-3.

The Panthers finished things off in the sixth inning with runs by Beason, Lamm and White.

Washington completely flipped the script in game two, scoring four runs in the first inning, eight in the third and two in the fourth.

Canby had two RBIs in the game two loss and Huckabone had the other. It was the first SEC loss for Mt. Pleasant this season.

?The team was more focused in the first game, which helped us win,? Coach Brent Broeker said after the doubleheader. ?And then in game two, I think we relaxed a little bit. We put it to them (in) that first game, so we came out a little more relaxed and they came out a little more focused.?

The Panther boys moved to 8-8 overall this season and 5-1 in SEC play. They will host first place Fairfield on Monday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m.