Breaking into the top 10 (KABC) 4A baseball teams after splitting a doubleheader with number three-ranked Rock Creek, the number-eight ranked Panthers dropped a doubleheader to Wamego.
In game one, the Panthers lost 10-4.
The usually commanding Drake Blochlinger struggled to open the game on the mound, giving up two doubles, three walks, and a hit-by-pitch as Wamego took a 5-0 lead after one inning. The Panthers would struggle to hit the ball early, as Wamego picked up three more runs in the third inning, and two in the fourth to expand their lead to 10.
The bats improved and in the fifth inning, the Panthers were able to get some offense going. The Panthers scored four runs in the fifth to make it a 10-4 game, but would run out of time as they lost game one.
In game two, the Panthers fell 5-3 in 10 innings.
The Red Raiders found themselves on the board first, taking advantage of a pair of errors and stolen bases in the second inning, and picked up another run in the third. Concordia finally scored in the fourth inning, with Parker Jackson and Drake Blochlinger scoring.
Both defenses began ramping up the intensity, with the Panthers grounding out nine times with four strikeouts, and the Red Raiders striking out 10 times and having a combined six ground and fly-outs.
Neither team would be able to get a runner across home as the game went into extra innings. It wouldn’t be until the 10th inning, the third extra inning of play, did Wamego finally score, bringing across three runners to take a 5-2 lead. The Panthers got close to scoring a runner, but the Panthers ran out of gas late as Wamego completed the sweep.
Boone Richard had a combined five hits and two stolen bases and struck out 10 batters on the mound in game two.
Blochlinger, Rush LeDuc, Ayden Krier, and Chane Parker each had two combined hits, with Blochlinger having a double and a triple, and Krier striking out five batters.
