Opening KJCCC baseball play, the Neosho County Panthers took three games out of four from the Labette Cardinals.
Labette won Game 1, 4-0, before the Panthers won the final three games, 173, 19-6, 5-1.
The series win for the Panthers was medicinal for a squad that had dropped seven of its previous eight games.
“I hate to say it, but we’ve played some really good teams and we’ve beaten ourselves after our first games against Ottawa,” Neosho County head coach Steve Murry said. “We’re not hitting like we should. We’ve got to find a new identity. We’re starting to play more small ball and that’s what this team has to do.”
Lars Koester, a sophomore power bat for the Panthers, suffered a hand injury and is in the midst of missing two months of the season.
“He broke his hamate and they did surgery,” Murry said. “He’s about six weeks out, so we’ve got a while. He’s one of the best hitters in the conference and a natural-born leader. We need him. His IQ is great. We need him in the lineup.”
Maverick Williamson, a returning All-American for Neosho County, has slowed out of the gate as he’s batting .286.
Williamson’s fortunes shifted in the series against Labette as he piled up five hits and 10 RBIs over the four games.
“I told him he was going to be the first All-American to sit down,” Murry said. “Hopefully he’s turning it around. These kids are so hard on themselves. And they need to be more resilient.”
JD Troutman has emerged as a solid bat for Neosho County, hitting .370 with a team-high three home runs and 20 RBIs. He’s also leading Neosho County in strikeouts with 17.
“He’s going to be a great player, but right now, he’s feast or famine,” Murry said. “We want him to feast. But when he doesn’t, we want him to at least get a snack.”
Neosho County’s pitching staff has been helmed by Will Burger, who’s nursing a 3.98 ERA over four starts.
The Panthers have found a solid closer in Korbin Cloud, who’s appeared five times and registered two saves.
“He’s had a little trouble with free passes to this point, but he’s got a brilliant arm,” Murry said. “He’s only one year out of Tommy John surgery. We’ve got to get him in a position where we have more leads so we can use him.”
As a team, Neosho County’s pitching staff is maintaining a 6.42 ERA.
Offensively, Murry wants the Panthers to cut down on punchouts — in 426 team at-bats, Neosho County has registered 100 strikeouts.
“Right now, we have too many strikeouts,” Murry said. “If we can put the ball in play, we’re fine. But boy, do we strike out a lot. That’s a killer.”
The series win for Neosho County moved its record to 8-8 overall while Labette dropped to 3-11.
Updated season stats for Labette were not available at press time. The Cardinals won their first two games of the season over Oklahoma Wesleyan JV but were swept in series against NEO A&M and Carl Albert State. In total, the Cardinals have dropped 11 of their last dozen contests.
Up next
Labette heads to Allen on Thursday to start its second KJCCC series. Neosho County gets a break from conference action, hosting Baker in a fourgame weekend series on Saturday and Sunday.
Leonor Perez (7) of the Labette Cardinals raises his arms in the air after a single against Neosho County.
