Panthers baseball team’s offense struggles against Tigers’ pitching

NEW RICHLAND — The NRHEG Panthers baseball team was looking to put a painful nine-inning loss behind it when it entered Thursday’s matchup with Medford.

However, the Tigers had a different plan in mind.

Medford used a six-run third inning and excellent pitching from starter Cole Volkmann to fuel itself to a 12-1 victory over NRHEG in five innings.

“Medford did a nice job of jumping on us early,” Panthers coach Drew Paukert said. “Volkmann threw a great game and really was in control from the get-go.”

In the six-run third inning, the biggest blow of the game came when Medford’s Nathan Meixner delivered a bases-clearing triple off of NRHEG starting pitcher Jack Schultz that made the game 7-0.

On the mound, Volkmann allowed just three hits over five innings, including an RBI single from Jason Jongbloedt that scored Cole Staloch for the Panthers’ lone run of the game in the fourth inning.

Staloch and Routh were the only  other Panthers to scratch out a hit against Volkmann.

Medford added four runs in the top of the fifth to extend its lead to 12-1.

After scoring 33 runs — 18 in one game — over the past four games, the bats were silent Thursday for NRHEG, and that’s something Paukert hopes doesn’t linger.

“This is one of those games I hope we can put behind us quickly at this point in the season,” he said. “(I hope we) come back and get to work and finish strong these last five games.”

NRHEG will be at Tri-City United on Saturday.

Game stats

Medford 12, NRHEG 1

M           106    14X   X — 12

NRHEG   000   10X   X — 1

LP — Jack Schultz (NRHEG) 7 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 5 K

NRHEG batting: Cole Staloch 1-3; Jason Jongbloedt 1-2, 1 RBI; Braden Routh 1-1