Capping off the regular season hosting Clay Center with a shot for the top record in the NCKL, the Concordia High School baseball team swept the Tigers as their sights move to the postseason and hosting regionals.
Versus Clay Center in game one, the Panthers won 9-2.
After a quick top of the first inning, the Panthers got on the board, with Boone Richard getting on base with a single and later scoring on a Parker Jackson single to go up 1-0. After quick second and third innings, Clay Center finally got on the board in the top of the fourth, scoring a pair of runs on two hits and an error and took the lead 2-1, but the Panthers responded in kind, scoring three runs of their own on four straight hits by Jackson, Drake Blochlinger, Chane Parker, and Koehn Wiliams, with Parker stealing home to go up 4-2.
After the Tigers got a trio of baserunners in the top of the fifth, the Panthers came out unscathed. Concordia scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth, with five hits, with Brandon Vignery, Ayden Krier, Blochlinger and Parker all scoring, to make it an 8-2 Panther lead. The Panthers closed the deal with another Vignery run in the sixth to go up 9-2, with Krier closing the game on the mound to take game one.
Krier, Jackson, and Blocklinger each went 2-4; Parker and Williams each went 2-3. Parker won on the mound with five strikeouts, four hits, and four walks.
In game two, the Panthers won 9-3.
Concordia carried the momentum into game two, with Blochlinger having an eight-pitch three-up-three-down inning, then Krier, Jackson and Blochlinger scoring, while Richard and Parker tallied hits to go up 3-0. After the Tigers only managed a walk in the top of the second, the Panthers scored four runs, with Richard, Krier, Jackson, and Kale Schroeder all scoring to make it a 7-0 game after two innings.
With a quick third and top of the fourth, Concordia scored another two runs by Jackson and Blochlinger to go up 9-0. Clay Center got on the board in the fifth with a pair of runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to make it a 9-3 game. Three straight outs for Concordia and Clay Center capped off Senior Day and the sweep to end the regular season, as the Panthers tied with Rock Creek for a share of the NCKL title.
Jackson was 3-3 with a walk, Shroeder was 1-2 with a walk, Blochlinger was 2-2 with a walk, LeDuc was 1-2. Blochlinger earned the win on the mound with two strikeouts and two hits and two walks allowed.
