Middle School Baseball

The Lewis County Middle School Panther baseball team hosted the East Hickman Eagles on Friday, March 5th for their first home game of the season.

Jalen Smith took the mound for the Panthers in the second matchup between the two teams. After a leadoff walk, Smith struck out the second batter of the inning before giving up a single. A one-out fielder’s choice put runners at the corners with 2 outs, and East Hickman picked up 2 runs on a towering triple to left before Smith was able to pitch out of the inning and the Panthers trailed 2-0. Steele Moseley drew a one-out walk and promptly stole second and third before Brayden Whitlow delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Moseley and the Panthers trailed 2-1 after one complete.

Smith worked around a one-out walk, striking out 3 batters, in a scoreless top of the second, and the Panthers went down in order in the bottom half. After a leadoff single and a walk by the Eagles, Whitlow came in in relief of Smith and struck out 3 straight Eagles to end the threat. Maddox Tanner led off the home third with a single and moved over on a fielder’s choice. Jalen Smith reached on an error that would score Tanner to tie the game at 2, and Smith would move all the way to third on a passed ball and a groundout and would ultimately cross the plate on a 2-out single by Whitlow. Sam Moore would reach on an error and Kolt Skelton drew a 2-out walk, bringing up Nate James who delivered 2 2-run singles before the inning ended and the Panthers held a 5-2 lead.

Whitlow would work around a 1-out walk to pitch a scoreless fourth inning. After a groundout, Braylon Bean drew a walk and courtesy runner Cayleb Moore would steal second before a single to Smith and a walk to Moseley would load the bases, but the Panthers would fail to plate a run and the score remained 5-2 moving into the 5th. The Eagles would get the first 2 batters on board with an error and a walk before Whitlow would work out of another jam, striking out 2 in a scoreless inning. The Panthers would go down in order in the 5th, and the score remained 5-2. Whitlow would run into trouble in the sixth after striking out the leadoff man when the Eagles singled and a Panther error put runners on the corners with one out. Steele Moseley relieved Whitlow and gave up a run scoring single and a two base error that would score 3 to tie the game at 5.

With the game tied in the bottom of the sixth, Tanner led off with a walk and moved to second on the passed ball and to third on a wild pitch. Braylon Bean was hit by a pitch and replaced by courtesy runner Moore to put 2 on with no outs. Jalen Smith, Steele Moseley, and Brayden Whitlow had consecutive RBI singles and Sam Moore provided a 2-run double before the Eagles could escape and the Panthers held an 11-5 lead moving into the final inning. The Eagles would get the leadoff man aboard on a walk, and score on a throwing error 2 batters later, but would plate no more as the Panthers took the 11-6 victory at home to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Jalen Smith had 2 hits, 2 runs, and an RBI, Brayden Whitlow 2 hits, 2 runs, and 3 RBI, Nate James 2 hits and 3 RBI, Steele Moseley 1 hit, 2 runs, and an RBI. Sam Moore 1 hit, 2 runs, and 2 RBI, Maddox Tanner 1 hit and 2 runs, and Cayleb Moore 1 run. Jalen Smith went 2 innings, gave up 2 earned runs, struck out 3 and walked 3. Brayden Whitlow went 3 1/3 innings, giving up 2 unearned runs on 1 hit, striking out 7 and walking 1, and Steele Moseley wen 1 2/3 innings giving up 2 earned runs while striking out 3 and walking 1.