Washington splits with Panthers

It's not often a baseball team gives up just five hits over 12 innings in two games and comes away with a split, but it happened to Washington High School Thursday in a home Southeast Conference doubleheader against Mt. Pleasant.

Kole Hinrichsen threw a complete game three-hitter with 10 strikeouts, but Washington lost 3-0. Chase McDole fanned four and allowed two hits in the five-inning 16-3 nightcap win.

Bryce Anderson threw the first inning of the opener for Mt. Pleasant but hurt his hand. Jaxon Hoyle pitched 5 2/3 innings with five walks and seven strikeouts. Trace White got the final out.

'From a defensive side, we didn't earn it,” Washington coach Nathan Miller said. 'They got timely hits that capitalized on a couple of errors.”

'We got a couple breaks,” MP coach Brant Broecker said. 'We had a couple balls that just made it through that allowed us to score some runs. We had some guys hustle and beat out double plays that we ended up scoring a run on. Little things like that made a difference for us. I would say we are pretty happy with the split.”

The Panthers got their first run in the third inning off of two hit batsmen, a bunt and a passed ball. Brennan Bender and White each batted in a run in the sixth inning.

'I have to give credit to their guy, he kept us off-balance and did a good job on the mound,” Miller said. 'I didn't feel like we were as competitive at the plate mentally like we should've been. It cost us. We had bases-loaded with less than two outs, we had second and third with less than two outs and never got a run. It was a matter of not even putting the ball in play.”

Washington got walked four times in the first inning of the second game and had a 4-1 lead. Three runs in the second, six in the third and three in the fourth was the Demons answer to the first game shutout..

'I thought Washington did a good job coming back the second game and really tattooing the ball,” Broecker said. We tried to bring in the kid with the sore hand but it just got away from us. If it would've been closer game I would've done things different.”

Brant Stout and Luke Turner each had a single and a double. Stout had a double in the opener. Demon teammates Ethan Patterson and Trevor Quigley both went 2 for 4. Quigley had a single in the opener.

'We challenged the guys between games about their approach at the plate and they stepped up,” Miller said. 'With any loss you want to learn something from it. I think what we learned is we have to earn everything. Teams are not going to show up and say, ‘here the win is yours.' We need to take care of business the way we did the second game and move forward.”

The Demons (6-2, 4-2 SEC) host Eddyville today.

Mt. Pleasant is 3-4, 2-2 and plays at Keokuk today.