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Sixteen run inning propels Panthers over Tigers
Mt. Pleasant erases two run deficit with 16 runs in the fifth
NEW LONDON — Things were looking pretty good for New London baseball on Tuesday night at home against Henry County’s own Mt. Pleasant.
It was a scoring onslaught by both teams, as they combined for 33 runs when it was all said and done. However, it was the Panthers who scored over 70% of those runs with a 16 run fifth inning, taking the win 23-10.
Mt. Pleasant started the game strong as J.C. Sitar hit a two-run homer over the left field fence to get the Panthers on the board. The Panthers held a 3-0 lead by the end of the first frame.
After shutting the Tigers out in their half of the first, the Panthers tightened their grip even more with a run in the top of the second to push their advantage to 4-0.
New London stayed poised and flipped the game on its head in the bottom of the second.
The Tigers batted through the order in the second, culminating in a game changing six runs as Memphis Watson scored two with an RBI double and Michael Raines finished with an RBI single to end the run.
Through the next two innings, the Tigers and Panthers traded two and one run to make it 9-6 in favor of New London heading into the fifth.
“I fell like we made too many errors early,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Brent Broeker said. “We have to work on some things defensively that way we don’t have to put up a 16 spot in one inning to win it.”
For the Tigers, things began to implode in the top half of the fifth and the Panthers took control.
Payson Coleman kicked started Mt. Pleasant with a leadoff double. Coleman would grace the box twice more in the fifth as each Mt. Pleasant started garnered an RBI in the inning, culminating in 16 runs.
“We just shook off those early errors,” Mt. Pleasant’s Zach Newton said. “We kept swinging the bat and putting the ball in play. We just kept trying to make something happen.”
The Tigers struggled on the mound, giving the Panthers nine freebases off walks and hit by pitches.
New London couldn’t make up the difference as Gage Burden had the final RBI for the Tigers in the bottom half of the fifth.
J.C. Sitar and Payson Coleman each led Mt. Pleasant with three hits in the game.
Brayton Hutson, Payton Hagans, Sitar and Carson Andreasen all had three RBIs.
For New London, Gavin Menke-Bailey, Memphis Watson and Michael Raines all had two hits. Watson had a team high three RBIs.
“Michael (Raines) was throwing great on the mound we were making enough plays behind him to keep the game close for four innings,” New London head coach Jayden Flowers said. “I had to pull him because we still have four games left this week and not a lot of pitching. I was hoping he could get me through one more inning but we hit our limit on pitch count. I’m normally against throwing my guys on the mound in the middle of an inning and last night showed the reason for that.”
Mt. Pleasant improves to 15-4 with the win, while New London drops to 5-7.
