A couple changes in the batting order for the Panthers have seemed to made a difference.
Since moving freshman Kaleb De La Torre up to the leadoff slot and moving sophomore Aaron Dees down in the order, the Panthers are 3-1 following a Sunday afternoon sweep of the Highland Community College Scotties, 9-4 and 14-0.
In game one, in his first two at-bats, De La Torre connected on a pair of solo home runs to give the Panthers an early 3-2 lead after two innings of play.
"We wanted to put them into spots where they can be successful," coach Steve Murry said. "We had felt like (De La Torre) had the move to be able to do that. We also moved Dees down, and he's been better.
"It's not to say we'll stay with that, but things weren't going well so we decided to change it up a little bit," he added. "So far it worked."
Neosho County added four more runs in the home half of the third, and all four runs came with two. Freshmen Nate Vossman and Joe Mondragon walked. Freshman Nolan Beets single and another walk by Dees. Sophomore Will Clark doubled driving in three runs to give the Panthers a 7-2 lead.
After two scoreless frames, each team scored twice in the sixth.
"We still left numerous runners out there," Murry said. "I think we got off to a bad start, and mindfully, they need to get themselves back into a groove. I think they will do that."
The Panthers stranded a total of 11 runners on base in game one.
De La Torre and Beets collected two hits apiece, combining for four of the team's nine hits.
Mason Knopp picked up the win, striking out six over seven innings.
Knopp is now 3-1 on the season.
"Mason was okay," Murry said. "He put the ball in play, and he did what we asked him to do."
In game two, the Panthers exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the first and cruised to a 14-0 victory.
However, Highland managed to make things interesting, loading the bases in the fourth and fifth innings and having runners on the corners in the seventh.
"We need to pitch to contact. We can't give them free passes like that,"
Murry said. "I thought we did a good job of that today, and I thought the defense handled the ball well today."
De La Torre went 3-for-4, while sophomore catcher Cooper Minnick, Beets, Dees and sophomore Tanner Arst picked up two hits apiece.
Sophomore starter Alex DuBord earned his third win of the season, striking out six in five innings of work.
"We are still throwing too many pitches. Our pitching efficiency isn't where we want it to be. Alex was out of pitches after five innings. We would rather that happen after seven," Murry said. "We need to work on our pitch efficiency, but both of them did good enough jobs to win."
Today's game against Northeast Oklahoma A&M was pushed back to a 2 pm start time. Neosho County (13-6 overall and 3-5 in the KJCCC) will return home on Thursday to face Cowley College (16-6 and 6-2).
