Caleb Riordan | Ameritime Sports Writer
The South Iron Panthers Varsity Baseball Team has started their season 7-2 with their high-powered offense leading the charge.
The Panthers had no issues knocking in runs in their Fall season and that’s continued as the summer season is underway. They have scored five or more runs in seven of their nine games, and in five of those games batters made it across home plate ten times or more.
Brock Wakefield leads the team in hits, batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He is batting a whopping .686 in 44 plate appearances. He has also scored 21 runs, racked up nine RBIs and stolen an astounding 25 bases. Drenin Dinkins is 20-38 on the season which is good enough for a .526 average. He leads the team with 15 RBIs and has scored 15 runs. Joel Poston and Cody Hughes both have batting averages over .400 as well. Hughes is second on the team with 16 runs scored while Poston has knocked in ten RBIs and drawn ten walks. Hughes has also stolen 12 bags. Lucas Lunyou is another key contributor to this offense. He is batting .346 and is third on the team in RBIs with 11.
Harley Lewis has handled 15 innings of work on the mound for the Panthers. He is sporting a 2.68 ERA with 25 strikeouts and 11 walks. He and Hughes lead the team with three wins each. Wakefield has also seen a fair amount of time on the mound. He has thrown almost 14 innings with a 1.53 ERA. He has struck out 21 batters and walked only three. Dinkins has pitched ten innings and is rocking a 0.70 ERA with 18 strikeouts. Hughes has thrown nearly ten innings without allowing a run. He has 12 strikeouts and two walks in four appearances.
The Panthers’ only two losses this season are against Farmington and Crystal City. They have beaten the likes of Arcadia Valley, Eminence, Malden, Neelyville, Summersville, De Soto and Winona. They won six games in a row before their loss to Farmington on April 2nd.
If South Iron can keep their offense rolling and continue to trot out solid performances on the mound, this team is going to be a tough one to deal with coming down the stretch of the season.
Their next challenge is Bismarck on Monday, April 5th.
