Panthers Score Early, Often To Rout PAL Bucks 9-3

The Pembroke Pines Panthers have been preparing for weeks for the offensive onslaught they unleashed Monday night in a 9-3 win over the PAL Bucks to open the HSBN Fall Classic at Coral Springs High School.

“We have been working on fastball and offset pitchers all year,” manager Onel Garcia said. “We try to attack early in the count and take advantage of mistakes.”

That’s exactly what the Panthers did, scoring at least one run in the first five innings of the game.

The Panthers opened with two runs in the top of the first inning. Yoni Rodriguez led off with a bloop double, stole third and scored on a wild throw by the catcher to make it 1-0. After a one-out walk to Brandon Acevedo, John Ham doubled to left-center to make it 2-0.

In the top of second inning, Luis Mercado took the 1-0 offering and drove it over the center fielder’s head for an inside-the-park home run.

A sacrifice fly by Rodriguez pushed the lead to 4-0 and ended the night for PAL Bucks starter Mitchell Carroll, who struck out two and allowed three earned runs.

John Grassi checked in for the right-hander in the third inning, but the Panthers continued to score despite the change on the mound. Mike Van Degna doubled and came around to score on an RBI single by Mercado.

After scoring an unearned run in the fourth inning, the Panthers blew it open by scoring three in the fifth. John Ham led things off with a single, one of his three hits on the night. Mercado, who had three hits and two RBI, tapped a potential double play back to the pitcher, whose indecision allowed both runners to reach safely. It ended up costing the Bucks as Etienne Latour smacked a 3-2 pitch in the left-center gap for a two-run triple and then scored on a wild pitch to pad the lead to 9-0.

Latour also pitched a strong game for the Panthers as well, hurling five and one-third innings, allowing one run on one hit while striking out seven.

“I felt great,” Latour said. “I always go out there and give it all my heart, so it was great to see the results.”

The Bucks took advantage of Latour’s departure to show some resiliency, scoring three runs in the sixth. Will Edmonds keyed the rally with an RBI double.

“We came out a little flat early in the game, but I always tell our guys to keep fighting until the end,” said coach Bride. “We don’t have all our spots sired up, so there is a lot of competition out there.”

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