Panthers bounce back to beat the Bulldogs

ROCKFORD - The Parkway baseball team is winning games and having fun doing it.

The fun continued Thursday as the Panthers defeated Celina 4-3 in a matchup between a pair of one-loss teams at Don Black Field.

The Bulldogs, down 3-0 entering the seventh inning, staged a two-out rally in their final at-bat and Stephen Fleck tied the game at 3-all with a two-run single.

However, the Panthers wouldn't be denied when it was their turn at the plate, loading the bases for Brandon Gibson, who won the game by hitting a fly ball deep enough to score Bailey Rodriguez.

"Our boys battled back," said Parkway coach Luke Clouse, whose team improved to 9-1. "Brandon got down on himself in the seventh on a play (at catcher), and I went over to the bench and I told him 'You need to be up because we're going to need you.' "

The Panthers got a little help from everybody in the lineup on Thursday as they simply made more of their chances and played better small ball than the Bulldogs (8-2), who stranded nine runners, including a pair in scoring position during their final at-bat.

"It was bound to happen eventually," said Celina coach Andy Mikesell on the struggles to get runs across. "We were on kind of a hot streak there. We were hitting the ball really well with runners in scoring position. We knew it was going to catch up with us. Hopefully we got it out of our way."

Panther pitcher Trace Walls had a little something to do with that.

The sophomore left-hander threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and striking out six, with 70 of his 101 pitches going for strikes. The only two runs Walls allowed came in the seventh inning.

"Trace came out and had a very quality start for us," Clouse said. "That's the first time he's gotten a start this year. He proved himself, did what we asked, and did terrific for us."

Wyatt Felver replaced Walls after he gave up back-to-back singles to Seth Lonsway and Jacob Smalley in the seventh. Justin Keeling hit an RBI single on Felver's first offering to make the score 3-1 and then advanced to second on a passed ball. Clouse opted to intentionally walk Jimmy Luebke to load the bases, setting the stage for Fleck's game-tying hit.

"When teams do that, they bring in a stud. They usually try to blow it by you and just shut you out real quick," said Mikesell, whose team had its eight-game winning streak snapped. "We just said jump on the first good fastball you see."

Felver forced a C.J. Kimmel pop out to avoid any further damage. Rodriguez opened the bottom half of the seventh with a single and then was bunted over to second by Tanner Bates. Jensen Riley reached on an error and Felver's single up the middle loaded the bases for Gibson's game-winner.

Felver finished the night 3-for-4 with an RBI single for the first run on Parkway's opening at-bat. Gibson followed Felver with a run-scoring single of his own to make the score 2-0. Bates went 2-for-3 overall and Hayden Abromavich added an RBI single in the third.

Keeling (3-for-4 with a double and a bunt single) and Fleck (2-for-4) were the only two hitters from Celina with multiple hits. Kimmel started the game on the hill and lasted six innings, allowing six hits, three runs and striking out five. Shawn Rose came on in relief and suffered the loss for Celina, which will look to stay unbeaten in Western Buckeye League today at Ottawa-Glandorf.

As for the Panthers, they'll find out what they're made of with a murderers' row schedule coming up in the next week, starting with a home game against Versailles today.

"We're about to really learn what we got," Clouse said. "I like what I've seen so far, so I'm excited. The boys are getting after it. It's been fun coaching them this year."