“Our offense just wasn’t clicking,” junior Jake Arnold said. “We didn’t get the hits we needed [at the right time], and we didn’t have very many base runners.”

On April 11 and 12, the Panthers suffered their third and fourth losses of the season, falling 3-2 to McIntosh at home on Monday and 10-5 at McIntosh on Tuesday. The scheduled doubleheader on Monday night was cancelled due to rain and the second game was rescheduled for Tuesday at McIntosh.

“The pitching was not bad, but we didn’t play well in the field,” head coach Brent Moseley said of the team’s loss on Tuesday. “They just hit it a lot more than we did.”

In their second game against McIntosh, the Panthers showed improved strength with their bats, posting five runs to the Chiefs’ 10. However, the offensive production in Tuesday’s game was not enough to forget the frustrations of a questionable call in the fifth inning of Monday’s game.  

In the bottom of the fifth inning, senior Allen Shad, pinch running for junior Will Evans, ran to home plate after Mullins hit a single. Shad slid feet first, but was called out by the home plate umpire after he supposedly elbowed the ball out of the catcher’s glove.

Moseley immediately argued the tying run, but the call was not overturned. Shad was ejected from the game and faces a two-game suspension for his foul play.

“[The umpires] said that he used his shoulder and his elbow to dislodge the ball,” Moseley said. “Basically that he bulldogged the catcher. Which from where I was standing, he slid in feet first like he’s supposed to and then he flipped over. You know the catcher is there and they had contact, but the catcher never secured the ball. I thought it was a really bad call.”

Since the run did not count, the Panthers were unable to tie the Chiefs and the game ended with a 3-2 score in favor of the visiting team.

The call would not have been as significant if the Panthers had not struggled offensively earlier in the game. The boys only managed to score two runs in the first and second innings.

Junior Kyle Evert hit a lead-off double to start the game. Two batters later, senior Matt Mullins hit an RBI single allowing Evert to score the Panthers’ first run in the bottom of the first.

Senior Cole Evans took a base on balls to lead off the second inning and eventually scored from senior Garrett Houston’s RBI single. Those two runs concluded the Panthers run support for pitchers Arnold and Will.

Arnold pitched four and ⅓ innings, giving up seven hits and three runs, while striking out two. Will took the mound in the top of the fifth and went on to pitch two and ⅔ innings, only giving up one hit.

“We don’t make many errors,” Moseley said. “We pitch and we field. We just can’t hit.”

To end region play and the regular season, the Panthers play a doubleheader at home on Friday against Forest Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.