Sknerski hit lifts Panthers to regional final
Mike Sknerski singled to drive home Chapin Cofod in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Patuxent Panthers to a 5-4 win over the visiting Glenelg Gladiators in a 2A South baseball semifinal Thursday afternoon.
Sknerski also picked up the win on the mound, going three scoreless innings after relieving starter Donnie Holtzclaw to begin the 10th inning. Holtzclaw went nine innings and threw 117 pitches with 80 going for strikes.
Glenelg scored a run in the top of the first, but Patuxent provided a quick answer with Jeffrey Morgan’s lead-off home run in the bottom half. Holtzclaw then singled and later scored when Cofod’s single to left was misplayed and rolled out towards the fence. The Panthers tacked on another run in the second when Darius Jones doubled and scored on Morgan’s RBI single.
Glenelg battled back for two in the third, then took the lead in the fourth when Cody Ruben scooted home on a throwing error. Sknerski scored the tying run in the sixth after leading off with a single and then coming all the way around on a subsequent throwing error on a pick-off play.
After taking over on the mound, Sknerski pitched out of a first-and-third jam in the 11th. The Panthers had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the 11th, but scored the go-ahead run in the 12th after Cofod led off with a two-bagger, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Sknerski’s third hit of the game.
Patuxent 5, Glenelg 4
G 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 4 11 5
P 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 5 15 4
Check out the full story in next week’s Calvert Independent.
E-mail Andy States at astates@smacsportsnet.com
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