South and North players stand for National Anthem.

Panthers Shutout Cougars 10-0
Game was close headed into the 4th

It was a beautiful night for baseball at Fredrickson Field in Elko as the South Cougars were on the road against the crosstown rival North Panthers. In what was a much better game than the score indicates, the North Panthers took the inaugural season series by downing the Cougars in five innings by a score of 10-0 on Friday night.

Nick Daniels started on the mound for the Cougars and pitched 3 1/3rd innings, scattering four hits and picking up three strike-outs against three walks. He also collected three ground-outs, two fly-outs and had two runners reach by error.

Nick Daniels pitches in the 3rd inning against Lakeville North.

Freshman Chris Erickson came on in relief and pitched to six batters in the fourth. He pitched well for his first varsity outing, giving up only two hits in the inning. He was relieved in the 5th by Blake Nicols who was greeted with the bases loaded. He gave up a fielder's choice and an on-by error before being touched for the game ending hit.

The Cougars were once again looking for that timely hit as they left runners at 1st and 2nd base in the 2nd inning, and also left the bases loaded in the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning, with runners at the corners, they had a man picked off at 3rd for the final out of the inning.

The score was only 4-0 headed into the 4th, but the Panthers picked up three in the inning, plus three more in the 5th to pull away from the Cougars.

The grandstand starts to fill early for 2nd South vs North game.

The North attack was led by the hitting of junior Mike Kvasnicka who was 2 for 3, plus an intentional walk and four RBIs on the evening, including the game clincher. It was senior night for Lakeville North and a good crowd was on hand for the second battle between old friends.

Prior to the game, Cougar sophomore coach and former Panther player Bryant Rogness was inducted into the Lakeville Baseball Hall of Fame.  [ Rogness story link ]

The Panthers out-hit the Cougars on the evening 10 hits to 4.

Leading hitters for the Cougars were...

Marlon Amaro... 1 for 2

Alex Nichols... 1 for 2

Eric Watts... 1 for 2

Nick Altavilla... 1 for 2

The Cougars are now 5-14 on the season and will host Rosemount at Cougar Field on Monday (5/22) at 4:15.

[ South-North Gallery - coming soon ]