Panola has played 10 games into the Todd Shelton coaching regime as of Sunday,  and the Ponies have yet to fall below .500 in the W-L column after a 2-0 start.

As the young mentor assesses his 2008 outfit - composed of 22 freshmen and nine holdover sophomores - he expects to lose a few, but The Green has posted a 7-3 mark against some annually competitive non-conference clubs like McLennan, Wharton, Baton Rouge CC, East field and East Texas Baptist JV.

"We're looking at everyone, playing a lot of young kids, and we expect some mistakes and maybe a few losses," Shelton said Friday.

"We're in this thing to win games, that's the No. 1 goal every time, and we'll do whatever it takes," he added just after the Ponies had completed a three-game win streak against TUB and Baton Rouge."
The Ponies blistered ETBU, 35-2, on the road Feb. 4, then hosted the  bayou boys of Baton Rouge to win 5-2 and 2-1 to reach 5-1.

They returned home Saturday and gained a split with Wharton, losing 8-5 and winning 9-6. Here Sunday they split another twin bill, taking McLennan 5-2 and giving away a 4-1 decision in the nightcap.

The Ponies win at ETBU featured two three-run home runs by freshmen Randy Choate and Courtlyn Hebert in the first and fourth innings, a two-run dinger by freshman Rocky Calhoun and a follow-up solo shot by Aaron Wilkerson, both in the top of the ninth when Panola wore out its welcome and exploded for 11 of its   runs on the way out of Marshall.

Freshmen Scott Correll, Matt Holland, Travis Reagan and sophomores Josh Caperton and Kory Cleveland were the Ponies' hurlers, with Correll starting and throwing one inning, the rest relieving in stints of two stanzas each.
Holland faced six batters and got them all out, four on strikes. Regan, Caperton and Cleveland allowed just one hit. Panola had 26 hits, eight for extra bases.

Freshman Mason Denson was five for eight, and Cody Rogers, Mason Denson and Cortland Hebert had three hits each. Shane Fry, Choate and Robert Thomas collected two each.

The Ponies did all of their scoring and most of their hitting in the first two innings to topple Baton Rouge, 5-2, in their fourth game. Jonathan Baker singled then Rogers tripled and scored on a wild pitch for two in the first. Regan and Hebert opened the last of the second with doubles and an error, two walks and a passed ball took care of the second-inning uprising.

White Oak sophomore Scott Copeland got the win on a one-hitter through four. Daniel Martin of Harleton relieved and preserved the victory, allowing just one earned run.

Sherman (1-1) allowed just three hits and an unearned run to   beat Baton Rouge 2-1, with Wilkerson earning a save in three scoreless stanzas.  Sherman allowed three hits, Wilkerson just one.

Costly errors led to Panola's second defeat of the campaign with Denson taking the loss by yielding five runs, only three earned, in 2.2 innings. Williams and Cleveland followed in relief, but Panola never could make up ground to catch up. Fry (three for four) and Jason Myrick (two for four).

Baker was a foot beyond home plate for an apparent run in the sixth, but blue blew it. Rogers singled and Reagan doubled him home in the last of the seventh to close the gap to 8-5, but two strikeouts and an infield out ended chances of a Panola comeback. The Ponies slammed 11 hits in the nightcap to rap Wharton, 9-6.

Branden Powell was the major benefactor as he worked four innings in a starter's role for the win. Caperton had a rough relief stint, walking five and including two wild pitches, so Reagan had to come on and picked up the save. In 1.2 innings he fanned four, didn't walk any and didn't allow an earned run.

Copeland allowed just two hits, a walk and had three strikeouts in a winning five-inning stint against McLennan Sunday. Final score was 5-2 Ponies with Wilkerson earning a save in marvelous relief. He gave up one hit, no runs and no walks, striking out two.

The Ponies got three hits from Rogers, including a two-run double in the third after Myrick and Baker had walked. The latter scored all the way from first in a lightning sprint to the plate.

In the fifth, Rogers singled, Chase Weir singled him to third and he scored on a wild pitch as Panola began to take charge. In a two-run rally in the sixth, Fry and Rogers drove in runs with hits as Panola surged to 7-2.

The second game was tied 1-1 by Panola in the third when Myrick went yard over the left field fence with a drive that just wouldn't lie down. However, Panola made two big errors later and Martin suffered a hard loss in relief.
"It was one of those things I told you about Friday, that we're young and we'll make some mistakes," Shelton said.

Based on early outcomes, the Ponies are expecting much of themselves and they've got each other's backs, even their coach showing lots of fight.