BASEBALL: Panthers fall to Hot Dogs in sectional upset

May 29—Western's baseball team played with fire as its offense sputtered in the first two rounds of the Class 3A Northwestern Sectional.

Dominant pitching saved Western as the Panthers edged North Montgomery 2-0 in the opening round and squeezed by Twin Lakes 3-0 in eight innings in the semifinal round.

The Panthers played with fire again in the final — and were burned.

Frankfort upset Western 2-1 in eight innings Monday. The Panthers (24-5) failed to come through with a timely hit when they had chances to seize control of the game.

"Unfortunately, offensively we disappeared in the sectional," Western coach Ryan Berryman said. "It's sad to think that we gave up just one earned run in 23 innings on the mound and couldn't scratch out runs to win a sectional title."

Frankfort (18-12) scored an unearned run in the first inning and Western scored an unearned run in the second for a 1-1 tie. From there, the Panthers had a pair of chances to break away.

The Hot Dogs committed a two-base error at the start of the third inning and again at the start of the fourth inning. The Panthers had a runner on third with one out in the third inning, and a runner on third with no outs in the fourth — and they came away empty each time.

In the fifth inning, the Panthers opened with a leadoff single by Cayden McClure, but a failed sacrifice attempt and two other one-pitch outs ended the rally as quickly as it started. McClure's single proved to be the Panthers' last hit of the game.

"It's the little things that we struggled with all season despite working on those things and trying to focus on those concepts and those skills to move runners and extend leads," Berryman said. "We just didn't do it and it bit us."

The score remained 1-1 through the regulation seven innings. In the top of the eighth, Frankfort did what Western failed to do as the Hot Dogs executed and came through with a clutch hit. Matthew Berry drew a leadoff walk. Following a Panther pitching change, Jose Lopez dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Berry to second. Quentcy Perry drove in Berry with a sharp single up the middle on a two-strike count.

In the bottom of the eighth, Lopez retired the Panthers in order to end the game and set off a Hot Dog celebration.

"Our No. 1 strength is that our guys are never overwhelmed. They may get beat, but they're never overwhelmed," Frankfort coach Andy Dudley said. "We had some tough breaks, misplayed balls, but no one shrunk. Nothing changed when we got those bad breaks. Especially these seven [seniors], they've overcome so many things in their lives. I'm really excited for those guys."

Frankfort advances to play in a one-game regional Saturday.

Lopez pitched his second straight complete game in the sectional. After stifling Northwestern in the semifinal round, he did the same to Western. He held the Panthers to three hits and no earned runs. He struck out two and walked two.

Western's run against Lopez was something of a gift. In the second inning, the Panthers had runners on first and second with two outs. Cade Epp had a popup that the Hot Dog second baseman appeared to catch for the third out, but the field umpire ruled he dropped it on the exchange from his glove and the Panthers scored a run.

Otherwise, Lopez was in control.

"Jose threw exactly like Jose throws," Dudley said. "He's almost never behind in the count. But if it is 2-1 or 3-1, he's the same pitcher. Nothing rattles him. The other team gets fired up and he just takes a deep breath and pitches."

Lopez threw 63 of his 101 pitches for strikes. At one point late in the game, he had 12 straight strikes. He retired 12 of the last 13 Panther batters with the one exception being a two-out error in the seventh.

"Hat's off to Lopez. He did a great job hitting his spots and keeping us off balance," Berryman said. "But we had some self-inflicted wounds. We didn't have very strong approaches and it snowballed."

Western ace Mitchell Dean took the tough-luck loss. Dean (8-1) pitched seven complete innings. The District E Player of the Year and Indiana All-Star exited after reaching the 120-pitch limit with a walk to the leadoff batter in the eighth. He held the Hot Dogs to four hits and one earned run, struck out 10 and walked four. Deaglan Pleak relieved in the eighth.

"Dean is great, we all know that, but we made him throw pitches," Dudley said.

Dean closed his Panther career with a 21-5 record over three seasons. He recorded 311 strikeouts in 172 innings.

The Panthers graduate a big class of eight seniors. Dean, McClure, Epp, Evan Stout, Zach Gilbert, Mitchell Knepley, Christian Pownall and Bret Echelbarger all started in Monday's game.

"I love those guys. They've been great kids," Berryman said. "We did get a conference title this year, we won a sectional last year, we put up over 70 wins the last three seasons. The disappointment on their faces, I know it hurts, but the hugs and the I-love-yous when they walked out of the locker room was what means the most."

Bryan Gaskins is the Tribune's sports editor. He may be reached at bryan.gaskins@kokomotribune.com or 765-454-8567.