PANTHERS EVEN SERIES WITH 13-3 WIN OVER CUBS
What a difference a day makes.
Just one night after the Brenham Cubs ripped Kingwood Park, 11-4, in the opening game of their Region Quarterfinal best-of-three, the Panthers stormed back to even the series with a 13-3 win on their home field.
Kingwood Park (25-12) struck quickly with five runs in the first two innings off starter Broc Bosse (7-2).
Nick Benedict provided the key hit in the first inning with a two-out two-run single. Jonathan Ducoff would chase Bosse after just an inning and two-thirds with a two-run homer.
The Cubs (24-9) fought their way back with a two-run home in the fourth by Dakota Brewton.
Teddy Hoffman’s sacrifice scored Tyler Watts in the fifth to cut the Panther lead to 5-3, but that is as close as the Cubs would get.
Kingwood Park would erupt for six runs in the bottom of the fifth, with run-scoring hits from Cameron Perez, David Falkner, Blake Ledoux and Garrett Velko.
Meanwhile, starting pitcher Jason Blanchard (9-1) was shutting down the Cubs. The senior left-hander’s commanding curve ball and constantly changing speeds kept the Brenham hitters off balance throughout the night.
Blanchard limited the Cubs to just four hits.
The series now boils down to a one-game winner-take-all, Saturday afternoon at Tomball High School, 30330 Quinn Rd.
First pitch is at 1:00. The game can be heard live on AM-1280 KWHI and on the web at www.kwhi.com.