Earlier this week, the freshmen baseball team defeated Locust Grove for their third win of the season. 

“This game went really well. The fundamentals are throw strikes, and don’t make errors on the field,” head coach Taylor Sweeney said. “We did a good job with throwing strikes.”

This year’s team is made up of a majority of 8th graders from Rising Starr Middle School. 

“17 of our 19 kids are 8th graders,” Sweeney said. “We expect good things out of them, and we have to keep them together and play to the best of their abilities.”

Eighth grader Kason Chmielewski took the mound for the Panthers and held the Wildcats scoreless in the top of the first inning.

Fellow eighth grader Braden Burkhalter put Starr’s Mill on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. The Panthers led 1-0 after one inning.

Neither team could muster any offense in the second inning. It was Burkhalter scoring again in the third that increased the Starr’s Mill lead to 2-0.

“I think I did pretty well. Two for three is not bad,” Burkhalter said. “I think I did pretty well [fielding], so overall pretty good.” 

Eighth grader Ashton Zeller took over pitching in the fourth inning. The Wildcats got on the board in the fifth inning, cutting the Panther lead to 2-1.

Eighth grader Jacob Hogan helped increase the lead back to two runs in the next inning. 

During the seventh and final inning, Locust Grove scored its second run but it was not enough. Starr’s Mill prevented any further runs from being scored and won 3-2.

The Panthers are now 3-4 overall for the season.

Starr’s Mill hosts Whitewater tonight at 5 p.m. Come show the freshmen baseball team some support.