BASEBALL: Panthers let one slip away against Hornets
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville wasted a golden opportunity to start their conference season 1-0, but allowed an 8-0 lead to slip away at Nashville on Tuesday afternoon, eventually losing 12-9 after starter C.J. Opp was removed from the game with an injury in the fifth inning.
"This is a game we should have definitely won after leading 8-0, but we didn't hold on," PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt said. "My biggest disappointment was that when Nashville started chipping into our lead, we hung our heads and backed down instead of competing."
"When things were going well early, we really battled and worked, but as soon as we ran into problems, I thought our body language told the story."
The Panthers got a run in the first when Opp singled home Bryant Shute, but the bats really came to life in the second inning.
After Noah Hepp scored when Hunter Queen reached on an error, Matthew Nichols singled to score Marian Brammeier and Joey Burris for a 4-0 lead.
Shute followed with an RBI single to plate Queen, then Adam Barczewski's single loaded them up again for Brandon Long, who doubled to clear the bases.
Opp cruised through the first two innings with an 8-0 advantage, but three singles, a hit batsman and a two-run homer by the Hornets cut into the lead in the third.
The Panthers tacked one on in the top of the fourth to lead 9-3, but failed to ignite any offense the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Hornets were just getting started.
Opp faced just one batter in the fifth and was removed after hitting him with an undisclosed injury. Hepp came in to relieve Opp, but couldn't make it out of the ugly inning before Evan Chapman was called upon to stop the bleeding.
"Unfortunately in the fifth, when C.J. went down to an injury, our pitching really never shut Nashville down again," Engelhardt said. "Hopefully we can learn from this and be more competitive in the future."
Four hits, including a three-run homer, and an error led to seven runs in the frame for the Hornets, who added two more in the sixth for insurance.
Opp got a no-decision for his four innings of work, allowing seven hits, three earned runs, two walks along with 4 strikeouts. Hepp (0-2) was the losing pitcher, retiring only one hitter before giving way to Chapman, then Shute.
Nichols (2-4, R, 2 RBI) and Barczewski (2-4, 2B, R) had multi-hit games for the Panthers, Shute (1-3, BB, 2 R, RBI), Opp (1-3, BB, R, RBI), Long (1-4, 2B, 3 RBI) and Joey Burris (1-3, BB, R) also collected hits.
Pinckneyville (6-3, 0-1) is off until Friday when they travel to Du Quoin (1-7, 0-1) for a 4:30 p.m. meeting.