Panther Creek gets long-awaited baseball win against East Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL It was a long time coming, but that just made Panther Creek’s 5-2 baseball win Wednesday at East Chapel Hill all the more satisfying.

Andrew Zuber went 3-for-4 at the plate, an RBI triple by Alex Dumas and two doubles by Cameron Norgren highlighted a solid performance for Panther Creek (10-8), which won for the sixth time in seven nonconference games. Coleman Barnacascel (4-1) picked up the win on the mound.

Wednesday’s game was a makeup from a game rained out on April 2, when East Chapel Hill (11-8) originally had planned to host Panther Creek in their third game of the Hilltop Invitational Tournament. The Catamounts went 2-0 in the HIT with a gritty, 1-0 win against Green Run of Virginia Beach, Va., and an 11-3 win against Cedar Ridge.

“Our guys had a goal of going 3-0 in that spring break tournament. Coming over here on the bus, they knew this was that third game we didn’t get at the time,” Panther creek head coach Dan Hall said. “They wanted to check that off their list of goals, even though it was three weeks later.”

Panther Creek never trailed in Wednesday’s game, opening up a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. After Zuber and Dumas both singled, Norgren brought both home with a double into deep right field.

The Catamounts went up 5-0 in the fifth. Bryceon Hernandez led off with a single into center field, reached second on a throwing error, took third on a groundout by Barnacascel and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Zuber. Next up, Ben LaSpaluto (2-4) singled into left field, and then Dumas (2-3) sent his towering triple into deep right-center to make it 4-0. Norgren (2-4) followed with his second double to score Dumas.

Barnacascel gave up two earned runs in three innings pitched, but struck out four and walked none.

East Chapel Hill got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, after Chris Perkins was hit by a pitch and scored on a double into center-right by Sean Moore, who took third on the unsuccesful throwout-attempt on Perkins at the plate. Moore scored on a Brad Rice groundout to second.

Highlight reel

East Chapel Hill had a chance to tie or go ahead when it loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second, but second-baseman Parker Fernstrum snared a shot up the gap by Austin Shank, stepped on the bag and threw to Hernandez at first to turn a double play and get the Catamounts out of the inning.

Three who mattered

Andrew Zuber, Panther Creek: went 3-for-4 to pace the 10-hit performance for the Catamounts.

Ryan Fajack, East Chapel Hill: took the loss on the mound, but went 2-2 at the plate.

Cameron Norgren, Panther Creek: 2-4, two doubles and three runs batted in is a good day for anybody in any league.

Unsung hero

Panther Creek righthander Zach Clover entered in the bottom of the seventh and retired the side 1-2-3 on three strikeouts that required just 17 pitches.

By the numbers

.857: Panther Creek’s winning percentage in nonconference games.

0: errors by the Catamounts.

3: errors by East Chapel Hill.

8: Catamounts left on base.

They said it

“We still have a goal of making the playoffs. We need to pick up two or three more wins and we have six games left. The urgency is there now. Our guys really want it.” Panther Creek coach Dan Hall.

“We’ve just been scuffling the last two or three weeks. The errors haven’t helped.” East Chapel Hill coach Phil Woodell.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Panther Creek gets long-awaited baseball win against East Chapel Hill."