The Crestwood Panthers dropped the second game of a three-game set against the Northwest Indiana Oilmen on Friday night at Oil City Stadium.
The Panthers were on the better end of a pitcher’s duel throughout the first seven innings. However, defensive struggles in the eighth inning turned the tide as the Oilmen took an 8-4 win.
“We just have to be better tomorrow.” Head Coach D’Vante Glenn said after the game.
In the second inning, the Panthers took the early lead on a Brandon Simon RBI single scoring Horacio Cabrales (Who had previously reached on an error by Joe Consenza). From there Charlie Faoro worked his magic on the mount retiring the first 11 Oilmen he faced and not giving up a hit through his first 4.1 innings.
The Oilmen were able to come back with two of their own in the fifth inning, however, to take a 2-1 lead. The Panthers would finally respond in the seventh inning as “Q” Noble, who had been 0 for 3 on the night, launched his first home run of the season into the parking lot beyond the right field fence to make it a 3-2 Panthers’ lead.
“In this sport, we need to take our losses from early at-bats and not carry them into later at-bats.” Glenn said, “[Noble’s home run] was a prime example of that.”
The Panthers would add an insurance run on a Cabrales RBI single before Faoro threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish his night. Faoro struck out 11 in his seven innings of work giving him a league-leading and team record total of 64 on the season.
“[Faoro] showed us why he is going to be a collegiate baseball player.” Glenn said, “He goes out there and is able to do things a lot of us can’t do.”
In the bottom of the eighth, everything unraveled for the Panthers as three costly errors led to six Oilmen runs. Crestwood got two runners on in the ninth, but were unable to score as the game ended 8-4 in favor of the Oilmen.
The Panthers will play their season finale on Saturday against the Oilmen at Oil City Stadium in the rubber match of the three-game series. A win on Saturday would move the Panthers to 5-5 against the Oilmen on the season, which would be the first time in history the Panthers finish the season .500 or better against the Oilmen.
For the full box score, visit the Northern League Pointstreak page: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=577490