MP baseball splits at home

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant baseball team got off to a hot start in their season-opening doubleheader against Ft. Madison, but the Panther boys fizzled out in game two. After holding on for an 8-5 win in the season opener, the Panthers blew a 3-1 lead game two and fell 10-4.

Clayton Lowery delivered the biggest hit of the night in the first inning of game one. After Mt. Pleasant starter Jaxon Hoyle wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in top of the first inning, the Panthers put two runners on in the bottom half. Lowery lined an RBI-triple that gave the Panthers their first lead. Nik Coble brought Lowery in on a sacrifice fly, and it was 3-0 Mt. Pleasant after one.

The Panthers would stretch that lead to 6-1 in the second inning. Corbin Broeker and Rylan Seberg each had a sacrifice fly in the second frame, and Clayton Lowery stayed hot with an RBI single.

Mt. Pleasant continued to pour it on in the fourth inning. Nik Coble brought two more in with a two-RBI double, and Mt. Pleasant held what seemed to be cruising, up 8-1.

Ft. Madison made it a game in the seventh inning. The Bloodhounds got to Panther reliever Cooper Keldgord, cut the lead to 8-4 and loaded the bases with nobody out. Broeker worked his way out of the jam, allowing just one run, and Mt. Pleasant held on for the victory.

After trailing 1-0 early in game two, the Panthers came back to score the next three runs. Jack Johnson tied the game with an RBI groundout in the second inning, a nd Chase Williamson knocked in two with a two-RBI double in the fourth.

Ft. Madison battled back to tie the game at 3-3, and then took a 6-3 lead with a three-run sixth. The Panthers had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, but came up with just one run when Williamson was hit by the pitch. The Bloodhounds added six in the seventh to put the game on ice.

The Panthers had trouble finding the strike zone in both games. Mt. Pleasant was forced to use seven different pitchers on the night; Hoyle, Lowery, Kelgord and Broeker in game one, and then Coble, Johnson and Will Edeker in game two.

'Out of the two games, there were 78 batters and we walked 23 of them,” said head coach Brent Broeker. 'We've got to do a better job. We've got a good enough defense that if we can get our pitchers to throw strikes and make them swing the bat, I'll take my chances every day. We just didn't throw enough strikes, and they capitalized.”

The Panthers are now 1-1 overall and in conference play. They'll travel to Washington on Thursday for another Southeast Conference doubleheader.