Baseball season takes final swing
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Cody Shook hammers the ball during the Panthers season ending homestand.

The Panthers baseball season came to an end last week, as the team lost its final two games to Banks County and Fannin County, eliminating any chance of postseason play.

"We kind of fell short of where we wanted to be," Panthers Head Coach Robby Roxbury said. "We lost to some pretty good teams. There were a lot of teams that were actually better than us. That's just what it boils down to."

The coach said that dominant pitching within the region was a big factor in the season. That was as evident in the final game against Fannin County as it was any time, as the Rebels shut out the Panthers 7-0.

"We kind of killed things ourselves," the coach said. We had a lot of chances where we could have been right in the mix, but we would have an error here or there. But the guys played hard throughout the whole season and that's all I can ask of them, and overall we were much improved over last year."

This year the team loses four seniors to graduation: Jace Emerine, Aaron Deyton, Cody Graham, and Kody Owenby.

Cody Graham makes the running catch.

"These four guys are really key for us," Coach Roxbury said. "They will be missed for sure. I've been around these guys for four years and they are awesome. They are great guys, a classy bunch of guys."

Coach Reece and Coach Roxbury pose with the seniors for one last photo.