Baseball: Panthers drop Alabama double header

Beauregard posted back-to-back 32-win seasons in 2009 and 2010 before posting 19 victories last year in a rebuilding season.
The Panthers played error-free baseball in the opener in Alabama but still lost decisively.

“They just crushed the ball and we only managed three hits,” coach Tommy Fountain said.

Jackson County starter Austin Robinson surrendered three runs on five hits but eventually settled down. He gave up two runs over three hits over the next four frames. Quin Grogan surrendered three runs in an inning of relief work.

Jackson County pitchers combined to throw a three-hitter in the nightcap. Four Panthers (Jalen Banks, Kolin Zimmer, Jesse Tallent and Bryson Evans) took the mound.

“The problem was we only had four hits … They threw a 6’4” lefty at us that really kept us off balance with his off-speed after facing a guy in the mid 80s the first game,” Fountain said.

Tallent went a combined 2-for-6 on the day, while Robinson and Troy McIntyre both had a double. Chase Dunlap, Andy Williams and Zimmer each had a hit.

“We just really struggled at the plate all day,” Fountain said.

Fountain said his team had a chance late in the second game when Tallent reached on a double and Andy Williams hit a two-out single to right field. Tallent was thrown out at the plate, however.

Despite his team’s losses, Fountain said his team played some good baseball against one of the two or three best squads his group will face this season.

“There were only four errors all day combined — two were wild throws on pick off moves — and not a lot of walks, minus our first inning of the second game,” Fountain said. “They just really swung the bat well in the first game and we never got anything going all day long offensively.”