Box Score GRAND JUNCTION, Col. – Great pitching and timely hitting were the recipe for the Neosho County Panthers Sunday (May 26) night as they picked up a 2-1 win in their opening game of the 2013 JUCO World Series.
 
Chance Sinclair was dominant on the mound as he allowed one run on only 4 hits in 9.0 innings of work. It was the third consecutive complete game of the post season for Sinclair who has made the most of his second chance to pitch in the postseason
 
Cochise starting pitcher Xavier Altamirano gave the Panthers trouble for much of the night. The right hander mixed pitches and kept the Panthers off balance. Neosho County would have a base runner in every inning except the first, but struggled to push a run across.
 
Sinclair allowed his only run of the game in fourth inning. After allowing a leadoff walk, the Apaches would bunt the runner over to second. Sinclair got a fly out to shallow center field for the second out before a single drove in the run. He would get a pop out to end the inning.
 
The Panthers would finally get on the scoreboard in the sixth inning. Colby Smith would start the rally with a one out walk to bring Jake O'Brien to the plate. O'Brien drilled a 1-2 pitch to left center for an RBI double to tie the game at 1. That would be all the Panthers would get however ad the game would stay tied at 1.
 
In the top of the 7^th, Sinclair would run into his only real trouble of the night. Cochise would get the first two men of the inning on. The Apaches attempted to move the runners up with a sac bunt, but Sinclair was quick off the mound to get the lead out third base. It looked as though Cochise would regain the lead on a single through the right side, but a strong throw from Robbe Ewing kept the bases loaded and the score tied. Sinclair would respond with a strikeout swinging before Justin Warne made an acrobatic catch in the Apache bullpen to end the inning.
 
In the 7^th, the Panthers would get a pair of hits but failed yet again to push a run across against Altamirano. Sinclair would go back out for the 8^th and work around a one out walk to keep the game tied at 1 with the Panthers coming up.
 
In the 8^th it looked like the Panthers would not be able to get the run Sinclair needed. The first two men of the inning went down in order and Jake O'Brien stepped to the plate with the bases empty. O'Brien belted the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to give the Panthers their first lead of the game.
 
That would be all the support that Sinclair would need. Cochise got a leadoff single to start the 9^th before bunting him to second base. Sinclair would then coax a groundout for the second out before getting a strikeout to close out the ball game.
 
O'Brien led the Panthers offensively going 3-4 at the plate with a double, a homerun and both runs driven in. Justin Warne, Bobby Wernes, Matt Milner, Craig Johnson, and Colton Crocker each recorded a hit on the night while Crocker also added a stolen base.
 
The win means the Panther next game will be Tuesday (May 28) night at 7:30pm Mountain time. They await the winner of Spartanburg Methodist and Connors State College. Those teams play Monday at 2:00pm mountain time.