IOLA, KANSAS -- The Ellsworth Panthers opened the 2021 baseball season on the road with a four-game series against Allen County CC over the weekend. And although the Panthers ended the trip with four losses, two of the defeats were by a single run. Allen County, which had already played six games including two against Iowa Central CC earlier in the week by the time ECC got to town, won Saturday's contests by scores of 10-1 and 5-4, and then knocked off Ellsworth, 7-1 and 7-6, on Sunday.
The Panthers scored a run in their first inning of the campaign when Javier Melendez drew a leadoff walk and came home on a Trey Morris double in game one Saturday. ECC, however, didn't get another hit the rest of the game and the hosts tallied five runs against Ellsworth starting pitcher Zach Carlson in the bottom of the 1st, added a run in the 2nd and scored four times in the 6th. Carlson went the first five innings on the hill and Jason Moist finished with an inning of relief.
Allen County broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the 4th in the second game and an ECC rally came up one run short after they scored a run in the top of the 7th. Melendez had two hits and scored three of the Panthers' runs. TJ Truso, the number-two hitter, doubled twice and stole a base. Cleanup batter Carlos Aranda singled twice and knocked in two runs. Ryan Boothe also doubled and Ybrahim Quevedo had the other RBI. Coach Samuel Vega used two pitchers and both Charlie Jaeger and Elio Narvaez worked three innings. Narvaez was effective in relief, allowing only two hits and an unearned run with four Ks.
Sunday's action saw Allen County start fast, grabbing a 5-0 lead after two innings in the first game. Ellsworth scored their only run in the 6th and it was scored by Aranda. Zeb Wede had two of the four hits collected by ECC, one of them a double, and Fabian Dumey also had a two-base hit. Trey Morris got the start on the mound and went three innings, with Isaac Rohde and Broderick Bittle in relief. Rohde was solid with one hit and one walk allowed in his two innings of shutout baseball and he fanned three.
The final game of the series was a tough loss for Ellsworth, the Panthers taking an early 6-0 lead after an inning and a half. They went into the bottom of the 7th on top 6-5, but Allen County scored twice for the walk-off win. The Panthers did their damage on offense with only two hits -- a double by Melendez and a single by Morris. Each of the top five hitters in the lineup -- Truso, Wede, Aranda, Morris and Quevedo -- scored a run (Melendez scored the other one) and Quevedo drove in two runs and Bryce Hall one. ECC got a quality start from Gavin Busby, who threw four innings of scoreless baseball, allowing four hits. Miguel Baez, Cooper Johnson and Matt Nolan all pitched out of the bullpen. In all, 11 ECC pitchers got into a game in the series to gain valuable experience early in the year.
The Panthers will play four more games in Kansas next weekend with doubleheaders against Labette CC Saturday and the Bethany College JV on Sunday.