Panther baseball rebounds to split with Harlan

HARLAN — Despite going down 5-1 in game one Tuesday at Harlan (3-3), the Panthers (4-2) rallied to take a 7-2 win in game two.

“Unfortunately we made too many mistakes in game one to get the sweep against a quality Harlan team,” coach Brandon Phipps said. “Tom [Mikkelsen] threw well enough to get that win, but we did not execute well enough. We know on the road we can not afford to give free bases and have errors defensively.”

The only score of game one was by freshman Logan Stehr on a hit by Mikkelsen.

Mikkelsen pitched five innings, striking out six batters and allowing five runs.

Game two began slow, Harlan putting up the first run in the third inning.

Creston responded in the back half of the game, again with Stehr coming in for a run on a single by Mikkelsen.

Senior Tyler Riley’s run in the fifth gave the Panthers a lead before they dominated the seventh inning, scoring five runs.

“I was proud of our squad for responding in game two,” Phipps said. “Parker Varner was outstanding on the mound and defensively we played clean. We were able to put together a big inning in the seventh. We knew if we stayed with our approach we would have an inning break open for us.”

Scoring in the seventh were Tanner Ray, Stehr, Landyn Scherer, Camden Smith and Riley.

The Panthers hits were low with just four, but seven got on base after being hit by the pitch and three were walked.

On the mound, Varner struck out seven batters, walking two and allowing only two runs.

Thursday the Panthers faced Red Oak in another Hawkeye 10 matchup. Scores were not in by press time.

“Red Oak brings back their entire their lineup from last year’s team,” Phipps said. “We know they are always a tough out so we will have a good practice on Wednesday and get ready for the end of the week with Red Oak and ADM.”

The Panthers return home Monday in a doubleheader with Lewis Central.