Panthers throw cold water on Hounds at home

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BY ETHAN LILLARD
PCC SPORTS

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison baseball had only been shut out once in the 15 games leading up to Monday's double header against Mount Pleasant.

The Bloodhounds had already faced Mount Pleasant in a double header earlier in the season, splitting the two games 3-2, 5-2. The Panthers pulled ahead in the season series 3-1 after Monday, shutting out Fort Madison in both contest winning 10-0 through five innings and then winning 11-0 through six.

“There's a lot of things,” Fort Madison Head Coach Ron Walker said about the reason his team didn't show much effort.. “There's a lot of things going on within our team and we were split up tonight with coaches at different locations. It's something we have to play through. I have to take some responsibility for it as well. But as bad as tonight was, we did not handle ourselves very well tonight as human beings and represent the Bloodhound uniform.”

GAME ONE

The story of game one was Mount Pleasant starting pitcher Jaxson Hoyle. Through four innings, Hoyle had logged seven of the teams' 12 total outs on strikeouts. Thanks to big innings to start the game, Hoyle also had the run support as well.

An error put Corbin Broeker on first to begin the game before Nik Coble walked. Clayton Lowery then brought home Broeker and Coble with a bases clearing double for the 2-0 lead. Chase Lamm then delivered with a sacrifice fly ball to put Mount Pleasant ahead 3-0 before Fort Madison got its first at bats.

The Bloodhounds didn't do themselves any favors at the dish, going three up three down, before the Panthers exploded again in the top of the second.

Mt. Pleasant added four runs before the Hounds were able to record the first out of the inning. Fortunately for Fort Madison, that out turned out to be on a double play, as Reed Fehseke made quite possibly the best fielding play of the season for the Bloodhounds. On a ball that was ripped up the middle, Fehseke drifted to his right, picked up the ball with his glove and flipped it to Jason Thurman covering second, as he then threw it down to twin brother Vasin Thurman at first for the double play.

“I was hoping that double play would give us some energy and we would start taking some at bats and start chipping away,” Walker said. “Unfortunately, that did not happen.”

A walk, a hit-by-pitch and a single loaded the bases for Mount Pleasant in the top of the second, before Broeker then walked to bring in the first run of the inning. Coble followed with a double to plate two. Lowery singled the following at bat to bring in one more run before the fielder's choice double play plated another run for an 8-0 Panther lead.

Fort Madison went three up, three down to end the second, third and fourth innings, before the Panthers put the nail in the coffin on a two-run shot from Brennan Bender for the 10-0 lead.

Hoyle then ended the game with a clean bottom of the fifth, as Fort Madison never sent more than three batters to the plate in any inning of the opening contest.

“First off, tip your hat to (Hoyle),” Walker said. “He came out and was around the strike zone all day and took the game to us. He came out and competed hard and came right after us. We didn't respond very well.

“We were soft with our energy level. We didn't play real hard. The first batter of the game reaches on an error, walk the next guy on four straight pitches and that doesn't set the tone very well for the start of the game. We didn't have a lot of energy and never could recover.”

GAME TWO

Things did not improve for Fort Madison in game two, though the Hounds did compete for the first three innings.

Mound Pleasant put the first runs of the game on the board again in the top of the second inning after Trace White started the frame with a triple. Bender plated White with a sacrifice fly, before two-straight singles combined with a wild pitch helped the Panthers grab a 2-0 advantage.

The Bloodhounds showed signs of life with back-to-back singles in the home half of the second, but three straight outs followed.

Three-straight singles, an error, another single and a sacrifice fly had Mount Pleasant ahead of Fort Madison 5-0 before the Hounds got an out. The sac fly was followed with another sacrifice fly ball, putting Mount Pleasant in the driver's seat with the now 6-0 lead.

The Panthers put the game on ice in the top of the sixth inning, again kickstarting things with singles. A Lamm single was followed by a White one bagger. Lamm then scored on an error before Dalton Gardner singled in White to make it 8-0. A Chase Williamson single, another Broeker single and a Coble double put the ten-run rule into effect for the second straight game, as Mount Pleasant went on to take game two 11-0.

After the game the first thing Walker had his players do was run wind sprints.

“To be honest with you, I kind of lost count,” Walker said about how many down and backs he had his guys run after the combined 21-0 losing effort in the two games combined. “It had nothing to do with the score. The 21-0 wasn't why we were running. We didn't show up to compete and our body language and our attitudes were horrible tonight. It's kind of disappointing when we have the community standing behind us and we talk about taking pride in who we are. We as a team did not do a very good job about that. I apologize for the way we showed up tonight.”

From a player's perspective, the same sentiment was shared about effort or lack there of, also stating the drive the Hounds once displayed doesn't seem to be there.

“I don't think we showed up to the field ready to play,” Fort Madison senior Dayne Cordray said. “I knew when we walked in the gate and everybody was kind of messing around … We weren't here mentally.

“We've just kind of gotten OK with where we're at right now with how many wins we have. We're not hungry anymore. I think we kind of lost that drive. I think we're going to get it back though here soon.”

The Hounds fall below .500 at 8-9 on the year and travel to Davenport North on Thursday for another double header.

baseball, bloodhounds, fort madison, iowa, Mt. Pleasant, Pen City Current

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