Panther baseball team opens season with three wins
No longer cooped up in a cage, the Panthers let loose with a roar.
The Glencoe-Silver Lake baseball team opened its season with a trio of victories as its season commenced a full 20 days late last week.
GSL commenced its abbreviated 2018 campaign with back-to-back blitzings of host Rockford in a Wright County Conference West matchup on Thursday, April 26, winning by scores of 7-1 and 16-3.
Game One saw the Panthers blow open a still-close contest with a 10-run sixth inning en route to a 13-run victory.
Starting pitcher Korey Johnson tossed all six innings, allowing six hits, four walks and three earned runs while striking out six.
Johnson also went 2-for-4 at the plate, driving in three runs – two of which came on a booming two-run double in the fourth – while scoring three more.
Chandler Glaeser also had three RBI with one run scored on a 3-for-3 game, while Dane Schwirtz went 2-for-2 with three runs scored, a pair of RBI on a sixth-inning single, and a stolen base.
The Panthers filled the scorebook as Tyler Siewert went 3-for-4 and Taylor Schauer was 2-for-4 – both scored two runs apiece, as did Gabe Roepke. Leadoff man Carsen Streich was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
Game Two saw more domination by GSL, with the Panthers using a four-run third inning to win by a half-dozen runs.
Chandler Glaeser tossed a 5-1/3 inning complete game in the shortened affair, allowing just four hits and no walks with a lone earned run scored in the top of the first inning. He struck out five Rocket batters.
GSL banged out 10 hits, led by Streich’s 4-for-4 effort that included a triple, one run scored and one RBI.
Roepke notched three RBI with a two-run single in the third and a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Johnson went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, as six different Panthers crossed home plate and five logging at least one RBI.
While GSL’s two wins at Rockford came by wide margins, the Panthers had to claw their way to win No. 3 in a 10-9 non-conference victory over Norwood Young America on Saturday, April 28, at Vollmer Field.
It was a back-and-forth affair between GSL and the visiting Raiders. The Panthers went up 4-2 after the first inning, but fell behind 9-6 after the visitors hung a five-spot on the board in the top of the sixth.
The hosts prevailed in the end, however, by scoring four runs in their final turn at bat, with Streich unleashing a bases-loaded three-run single to plate Spencer Lepel, Siewert and Schauer with the winning runs.
Joe Knudten claimed the win after tossing a scoreless top of the seventh. Ty Christensen started and went 4-1/3.
Streich went 3-for-4 on the day with four RBI and two runs scored. Lepel had three RBI on a bases-loaded double in the first.
The 3-0 Panthers hosted conference rival Litchfield in a doubleheader on Tuesday, May 1, after the Chronicle went to press.
