By Michael Lindsay
The Stone Memorial Panthers got back in the win column Thursday as they surged offensively en route to a 15-5 victory over Kingston.
“That’s what we wanted to get back to; we wanted to be more disciplined at the plate and have more gritty at-bats,” said Stone Memorial head coach Trent Stokes. “Putting up a lot of runs is what we’re capable of doing when we do the little things right.”
The Panthers had won 6 straight games before falling Tuesday at White County, 13-12.
“Coming off that loss, it was good to bounce back and not let that carry over into the next day,” Stokes said.
Stone Memorial racked up 9 hits, led by left fielder Nolan Wyatt who went 2-4 with 5 RBIs and a double. Colin Tiegs and Braden Looper also recorded two hits in the victory.
Tayln Hurd picked up the victory on the mound as he came in for 3 innings and gave up no hits and struck out 2.
“Tayln came in throwing strikes and did a really good job to see us through in that game,” Stokes said. “He was accurate with his fastball and able to locate his off-speed pitch to get some swings and misses.”
Stone Memorial struck first in the bottom of the first inning as Tiegs scored on a passed ball before a Looper grounder scored Nick Osmun to put the Panthers ahead 2-0.
Kingston answered with 2 runs in the top of the second to tie the game at 2.
After a scoreless bottom of the second, the Yellow Jackets pushed their lead out to 5-2 in the top of the third inning.
“The lack of throwing strikes early put us in a bind,” Stokes said. “That’s what this team’s done all year. I wish we’d play better from the jump, but we’ve been battling all year long.”
Stone Memorial kept the damage to only 3 runs as the Yellow Jackets had bases loaded with 1 out before Hurd forced a fly out and grounder for the final two outs of the frame.
The Panthers responded in the bottom half of the third with 6 runs, the first of which came via Wade Wilson making it home following an errant pickoff attempt by the Jackets at first.
A Looper single to left scored Tiegs before a Killian Diem single scored Osmun to tie the game at 5.
Stone Memorial retook the lead on the next at-bat as a Wyatt single scored Cade Wilson to put SMHS ahead 6-5. The Panthers would score two more in the frame as Rayce Boston and Tiegs each drew bases-loaded walks to put Stone Memorial ahead 8-5 after 3 innings.
The Panthers scored 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth and 4 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 15-5 and win via mercy rule.
Stone Memorial improves to 11-3 overall and is scheduled to face Red Bank and Grundy County in Saturday’s Mountain Valley Classic, weather permitting. The Panthers return to District 7-3A play Monday at DeKalb County.
