The Neosho County Community College baseball team opened league play Thursday afternoon with a 4-3 and 21-1 sweep of Highland Community College at Hudson Field.
In game one, redshirt freshman Tanner Fox was the hero of the game with his late-game heroics both offensively and defensively.
In the bottom of the sixth, with the score tied at three, Fox tallied his only hit of the game – an RBI triple to put the Panthers back on top 4-3.
Then in the next half inning, Fox made a pair of diving catches at second base to help secure the victory.
"Tanner was big in the moment," Coach Steve Murry said. "It was great to see Tanner come up big. He hit the living daylights out of that ball, and then made two super plays defensively in the seventh to win it."
Prior to that, Neosho County got off to a shaky start, but by the third inning, the Panthers had things settled down despite being locked in a tight battle throughout the seven-inning contest.
"I felt like I was watching a team who was maybe nervous for the first time of the year," Murry said. "Not sure why that would have been other than the fact it was conference. But every game is the same."
However, Murry didn't feel like the game was as close as the final score appeared.
"We had, three times that I remember, bullets hit with two outs and two runners in scoring position that were caught on diving catches," he said. "Those diving catches made that game extremely close. We felt like we had outplayed them the whole game, but we weren't getting the results. Sometimes that happens."
Sophomore Nolan Beets went 3-for-3 to lead the seven-hit game for the Panthers.
Sophomore pitcher Tyler McGrew had a no-decision, striking out eight over five innings of work. Sophomore Brayden Nelson picked up with win, working the final two inning.
In game two, freshman shortstop Cruz Aranda and Fox led off the game with walks, and then, sophomore third baseman Kaleb De La Torre smacked a three-run home run.
"I felt emotionally, we got back to playing the way we played all year," Murry said. "I felt like they maybe had lost a lot of energy and were drained from losing that close game in the first game."
That was the first of nine runs in the opening frame in the 21-run onslaught.
"It got out of control in that first inning," Murry said. "There wasn't a lot of excitement from that point forward. They made some errors. Baseball can get out of hand quickly if you make errors to long along with a team who is hitting the ball."
The Panthers added seven more in the second, one more in the third and two more in the fifth and sixth innings.
Sophomore McCae Allen picked up the win, striking out 11 in seven innings of work.
"I can't credit McCae Allen enough," Murry said. "When you get into games like that, you ask pitchers to do things that they normally don't do. We threw eight total breaking balls the second game. Because when you have such a big lead, you just want to throw strikes."
Offensively, De La Torre was 4-of-5 at the plate with four RBIs, while sophomore Joe Mondragon and Fox went 3-for-4 each, combining for seven RBIs and five runs scored.
Neosho County (8-0 overall and 2-0 in the KJCCC) travels to Highland (5-5 and 0-2) on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 pm.
"Very important games. You go into every series, honestly, needing to win three out of four. I feel like we need four out of four now," Murry concluded. "Then we play the No. 2 team in the country on Tuesday in Crowder. Then we play No. 4 in the country next Thursday and Saturday with Cowley. So we have some huge games coming up so we need that momentum, so to speak."