Panthers roll to sweep of rival Demons, move to 12-2 in SEC play

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

The Mt. Pleasant baseball team needed to sweep Washington on Thursday night in order to stay within striking distance of an SEC championship, and that?s exactly what they did.

The Panthers ran away with game one, 8-3, and completed the sweep with a 9-2 win in game two.

In game one, Mt. Pleasant put two on the board in the first inning with an RBI fielder?s choice by Caleb Potts and a run scored by Pat Canby on a wild pitch.

Washington answered back with two of their own in the top of the third inning. Collin Zear knocked in a run with a fielder?s choice, and an RBI single by Luke Turner that made it 2-2.

Mt. Pleasant?s Zach Beason knocked in a run in the bottom of the third inning and eventually came back around to score on an error. The Panthers led 4-2 after three innings.

Washington was able to cut the lead to 4-3 on a sacrifice fly by Zach Londberg in the top of the fourth, but Mt. Pleasant was able to score three in the fourth and one in the fifth to pull away with a game one win.

Keegan Rich went 3-3 in game one, the only Panther to have multiple hits. Rich finished the game with one double, one stolen base and one run scored.

Pat Canby went 1-2 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Cooper Huckabone was 1-2 with a double and two RBIs.

Colby Potts threw a complete-game seven innings to pick up the win. He gave up three runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk, while striking out three batters.

The Panthers once again scored two runs to start things off in game two, but Washington bounced right back with two runs in the top of the second to tie it at 2-2.

The Mt. Pleasant offense was able to grind out seven more runs, scoring two in the third, four in the fifth and one in the sixth.

The Panthers had four players with multi-hit games. Canby had another big game going 2-4 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. It was the second night in a row Canby went deep after going homerless until Wednesday night.

?He?s always been saying that we?ve got bad bats or we need new bats,? joked head coach Brent Broeker after the game. ?Well, he?s hit two in the last two nights, so he can?t really say anything anymore.?

Zac Ebeling went 2-3 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs in game two. Cooper Huckabone was 2-3 with a run scored and two stolen bases, and Caleb Potts went 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Zach Beason picked up the win in game two for Mt. Pleasant. He threw five and one-third innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits and four walks, while striking out five.

Mt. Pleasant moved to 21-12 overall with the wins and 12-2 in conference play.

The Panthers will travel to Fairfield for a doubleheader on Monday, July 3, at 5:30 p.m.