Panthers cage Cats in first region game
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam Freshman Brady McCarter delivers the pitch as the runner on second base looks on. McCarter has seen action on both the junior varsity and varsity teams this season.

The Panthers picked up a win in their first region game of the season, defeating the Rabun Cats 5-4 in a comeback win.

The Panthers tied the game following an early score by Rabun, but the Cats reclaimed a 4-2 lead. "Rabun is much improved this year from last and we kind of came out flat," Panthers Head Coach Robby Roxbury said.

Rabun kept the lead until the Panthers rallied in the bottom of the sixth. "Cody Graham came up with a two-out double, and we went ahead. We have gotten a lot of scoring this year with two outs. In some ways that is really good for us, but I wish we could get an earlier start," the coach said.

The Panthers dropped the following game to the Dawson Tigers, but showed tremendous improvement over previous games against the Tigers. "Dawson handed it to us the last couple of years, and for us to come out and make it a 6-4 ballgame, its a pretty good step for us," Coach Roxbury said.

Sentinel photos/Jared Putnam The Panthers pick up a hit in the first game of Saturday's double header.

Dawson took a 3-0 lead in the first inning before Freshman Chaiz George came into the game and "pitched five strong innings and looked great."

The team nibbled away at the lead and tied the score 3-3. The game was later tied 4-4, but the Tigers hit a 2-run homerun to win the game. Cody Shook and Cody Adams each had solo homeruns in the game.

"We lost the ballgame, but I told the guys, if we play like this day in and day out, we will beat a lot of good teams," Coach Roxbury said. "That was big for us because that was probably the best baseball we have played in probably six years. We looked like we were supposed to. [The team] looked like it clicked."

Union then had a rematch with Rabun County, as the Cats pulled out a narrow 4-3 win thanks to an early 3-0 advantage. "We were stale [again early]," Coach Roxbury said. "We work from behind so much, I wish we could just come out and jump on someone [for a change.] The Panthers tied the game 3-3 late, but a nub hit off the end of the bat set up a blooper that scored the winning run.

The Lumpkin runner is out by a mile at third base.

"You hate to get beaten by a half swing," the coach said. "It was a little bloop over the first baseman. You couldn't have thrown it any better, actually, and they scored the run off that. We played great, but everything we hit was right to somebody."

The coach said that he spoke to the team about the importance of raising the play up one more notch. "I talked to them last night and told them, if it was just enough for us to be better, we are there," Coach Roxbury said. "But if you want to take the next step we have to get that [winning] mindset. You have to hate to lose more than you love to win."

Coach Roxbury said that the junior varsity team has also been successful lately, picking up wins over Dawson and Rabun. "They have been playing some great ball, stepping up and doing some good things," the coach said. "The last two games that Josh Walker has pitched, he's been lights out."

The team defeated Dawson 9-7, lost both games of a double header to Lumpkin County over the weekend, and rebounded with a 5-2 win over Rabun. The team is now 3-3 for the season.

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam Union scores against Lumpkin.