Panthers no-hit No. 4, earn state baseball berth

The Pekin varsity baseball team is headed to Principal Park in Des Moines this weekend after qualifying for the state tournament by winning the Class 1A substate-4 final over No. 4 ranked Calumus-Wheatland, 7-0 Tuesday night at Solon.

Panther senior Tanner Bainbridge went 6 1/3 innings and tossed 112 pitches, while fellow recent graduate Caleb Comstock clinched the last two outs for the combined no-hitter that will send Pekin to the Class 1A quarterfinals in Des Moines either Friday or Saturday (Brackets released after deadline). Bainbridge also struck out 10 of the 30 batters he faced while Comstock earned both of his outs with strikeouts that only took a combined 10 pitches to seal the victory.

Breakdown

Freshman Chase Stansberry, sophomore Brady Latcham and junior Kennan Winn each hit safely multiple times for Pekin who stacked seven runs on 10 hits and three walks while shutting down Calamus-Wheatland who had won 33 of their first 36 contests before being buzzed down Tuesday night by the Panthers.

The dance

Joining Pekin at the party at Principal Park in Des Moines, home of the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, the Iowa Cubs, will be No. 10 St. Mary's, Remsen from substate-1; No. 1 Mason City Newman Catholic from substate-2; South Winnishiek, Calmar from substate-3; No. 3 Alburnett from substate-5; No. 6 Don Bosco of Gilbertville from substate-6; No. 2 Martensdale-St. Mary's from substate-7 and No. 9 Coon Rapids-Bayard from substate-8.