SEDALIA, MISSOURI -- For the 2nd straight weekend, the Ellsworth baseball team went to Missouri and got one victory in a 4-game series, but came very close to coming back home with 3 wins.  The Panthers ripped State Fair CC, 7-1, in the opener of a doubleheader Saturday, before losing a 6-5 heartbreaker in the 2nd game.  Sunday's 1st game was also a tough 1-run loss for ECC, 4-3, before the Roadrunners closed out the weekend with a 7-1 win.

The series started with a bang for the Panthers, who used a 6-run 4th inning and outstanding pitching performances by Connor Cox and Will Johnson in their 9-1 rout.  Cox, a lefty, started and went 4 1/3 innings, allowing only 3 hits and punching out 8 batters.  The only run he gave up was unearned.  The righthander, Johnson, followed with 2 2/3 hitless innings and 6 strikeouts.  Jean Melean provided a spark for the offense with a double, triple, 2 runs and 2 RBIs.  Alexis Ruiz knocked in 3 runs with a couple of singles and Jose Valentin doubled and drove in a pair of runs.

Game 2 belonged to Ellsworth until State Fair plated 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th to grab a 6-5 decision.  ECC scored once in the 4th inning, 3 in the 6th and added what looked like an insurance run in the top of the 7th.  They outhit SFCC, 10-5.  Nick Chasey contributed to the early ECC lead with a solo home run.  Valentin had a double and triple and 2 RBIs.  Jose Roche singled and doubled and Sergio Natera delivered 3 singles and a run-batted-in.  Jaden Morris gave the Panthers a strong start, going 5 innings and allowing no hits and one earned run.  Logan Fragomeni got one out in the 6th and was relieved by Jake English, who got out of the inning with the Panthers on top, 5-2.  English, though, gave up 4 hits and 4 runs in the 7th.  He did strike out 4 in 1 1/3 innings.

A run in the bottom of the 7th gave State Fair the 4-3 win in the 1st game Sunday.  ECC led 3-1 after 3 1/2 innings.  Again, Ellsworth had a big edge in hits, 12-5.  Melean and Kristian Crespo belted solo homers for the Panthers, who had 2-hit games from Valentin, Chasey and Crespo.  Everybody in the starting lineup had at least one hit.  Derihan Suero, the starter, worked 5 2/3 innings and Hadniel Payamps suffered the loss in relief.

State Fair got out to an early 4-0 lead in the series finale and finished off the 7-1 victory.  Ellsworth was held to 5 hits and didn't draw a walk from 3 State Fair pitchers.

The Panthers play at Iowa Central on Wednesday and then go to Illinois for 4 games against Shawnee CC next weekend.