The Crestwood Panthers dropped their second game in a row on Monday at Dowling Park to the Southland Vikings.

The Vikings took control early with one run in each of the first four innings to make it 4-0. In the fifth. Jimmy Gurgone (single), Joshua Aguiniga (groundout), and Hobbs Dunne (ground-rule double) each had back-to-back-to-back RBI plate appearances to cut the deficit to 4-3. That was as close as the Panthers would get as the Vikings would score twice more to finish the ballgame up 6-3.

Guronge (three hits), Dunne (two hits), and Horacio Cabralez (two hits) each had multi-hit days Gurgone ended up increasing his league-leading average to .415. Despite the solid performances, the Panthers could only scratch three runs.

“We need to control what we can control.” Head Coach D’Vante Glenn said after the game, “We were up there aggressive, it just did not work out for us today.”

Matt Maloney got the start on the day and went six innings while striking out four batters. It was the fourth time this season Maloney has gone six innings in a start.

“He has been a. Guy who is able to go six innings this entire season.” Glenn said, “He did what he needed to do.”

Charlie Faoro came out of the bullpen for the first time since June 15^th, and he pitched two scoreless innings. Faoro tied Justin Schassburger for the team lead for strikeouts (53), and currently sits two behind the team record of 55 in a season.

The Panthers still sit 4.0 games out of the Northern League playoffs behind the now-fourth place Northwest Indiana Oilmen. The Panthers play the Southland Vikings again on Tuesday at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It will be the final home game the Panthers play this season.

For the full box score, visit the Northern League Pointstreak page: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=577478