Key series for Panthers

Published 11:09 pm Thursday, March 7, 2019

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The LaGrange College Panthers are going to attempt to do what no one else has done this season, and that’s beat the Huntingdon Hawks.

The Hawks have played 13 games this season, and they’ve won them all.

Huntingdon will put that perfect record on the line when it hosts LaGrange College in a USA South showdown this weekend.

They’ll play a single game on Friday at 7 p.m., and a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Huntingdon, thanks to its unblemished record, has risen to 10th in the  most recent D3baseball.com poll.

Huntingdon is 5-0 in the USA South with three wins over Averett, and two victories over Maryville.

The Hawks have a team batting average of .333, and they’re averaging seven runs per game.

The Hawks also get it done on the pitcher’s mound with a team earned run average of 2.58.

While the Panthers aren’t perfect, they’ve been awfully good this season.

With Wednesday’s 7-4 win over Roanoke, LaGrange College is 10-4, and it has won five of its past six games.

After taking two of three from Berea last weekend, LaGrange College is 4-1 in the USA South.

The Panthers have a team batting average of .281, and they average 6.7 runs per game.

LaGrange College has a team ERA of 3.38.

Huntingdon, and every other team in the conference, is looking to unseat LaGrange College as the USA South champion.

The Panthers have won the USA South tournament title the past two seasons to earn the conference’s automatic invitation to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

SOFTBALL: LaGrange College opened USA South play with a pair of losses at Piedmont on Wednesday.

Piedmont won the opener 6-3 before finishing the sweep with a 10-7 victory.

In the series finale, LaGrange College had a 5-1 lead before Piedmont scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to surge ahead.

Taylor Long had three hits and two RBIs for the Panthers, and McKenzie Brunel had two hits and an RBI.

Brittany Todd had a hit and two RBIs, Michaela Keel had a hit and an RBI, and Lauren DeLoach, Sydney Hodorff and Kelsey Dietz each had a hit.

In the first game, the Panthers scored three runs in the fifth inning after falling behind 6-0, but they couldn’t complete the comeback.

DeLoach had three hits for the Panthers, and Long had a hit and an RBI.

Brunel had one RBI, and Keel and Dietz each had a hit.