Panthers split with Panthers

Thursday night marked the annual battle of the Panthers between the Mt. Pleasant and Knoxville. The MP Panthers scored a 7-5 comeback win in game one, but fell apart in game two, dropping it 12-2.

Mt. Pleasant had a slow start in game one, giving up three runs in the first inning, but the MP offense picked it up one inning later.

Trace White and Chase Williamson each had RBIs in the second inning to cut the Knoxville lead to 3-2. Then in the third, Clayton Lowery tied the game up with an RBI-triple, and gave Mt. Pleasant a 4-3 lead after scoring on a wild pitch.

Mt. Pleasant scored two runs in the fourth on a two-RBI error off the bat of Lowery. Brennen Bender knocked one home in the fifth. Knoxville scored two in the seventh but it was too little, too late.

Lowery finished Game One 1-4 with three RBIs. Williamson went 2-3 with an RBI. Nik Coble finished the game 2-3.

Bryce Anderson picked up the win in Game One. He gave up five earned runs on 10 hits and one walk over seven innings of work. He struck out three Panthers in the win.

Knoxville scored two runs in the second inning of Game Two. Dalton Gardner had an RBI double in the bottom of the second to cut the lead in half, but Knoxville scored the next 10 runs of the game.

Knoxville put up one in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead, but things really started to get out of hand in the fifth. White was on the mound in relief of Lowery, who started the game. He got three weak ground balls out of Knoxville in the first three batters, but a collection of miscues by the defense led to a bases-loaded no-out situation. That eventually turned in to five Knoxville runs and an 8-1 deficit for MP.

'They scored five runs without getting it out of the infield. That's how bad it was,” Said Coach Brent Broeker. 'It seems like when Trace is on the mound, it's bad luck waiting to happen. It seems like our guys just tense up and don't want to make the error for him, but they end up making more errors.”

Knoxville scored two each in the sixth and seventh. A leadoff double from Williamson led to an MP run in the seventh but that would be the last run to cross the plate.

Mt. Pleasant had just four hits in the second game. Gardner finished 1-2 with a double and an RBI to lead the squad. Williamson went 1-2 with a double and both Bender and Corbin Broeker had hits.

The loss went to Lowery, who gave up three earned runs on two hits and five walks, while striking out two batters over three and two-thirds innings. White gave up seven runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks, while striking out three over three and one-third. Broeker threw in the seventh inning and gave up two earned runs on two hits and one walk.

Mt. Pleasant is now 19-10 overall this season and will finish the regular season off at Solon tonight. Coach Broeker says his team has a limited time to relax and get out of this end-of-year slump, which has seen the Panthers drop four of their last five.

'I think we're pressing a little now, whether it be defensively or offensively,” he says. 'We've got some kids that are doing things that wouldn't normally happen, and I told them they can't do that because it's just going to make it worse. They've got to get back to having fun playing baseball.”