Ponies top LSU-Eunice
The Panola Watchman
   2/20/08

EUNICE LA – Bullard sophomore Chad Sherman was in control with a three-hitter through five innings and Panola battled to a solid victory against LSU-Eunice Sunday, 6-3.
It was the completion of a successful two-game road swing that took the Ponies deep into the Bayou State to secure a 17-4 win over Baton Rouge Community College on Saturday.
Both were nine-inning games that gave Panola bossman Todd Shelton a good look at aspiring freshmen – pitchers and position players. It was a highly successful venture as Panola improved to 12-4 in the young campaign.
Sherman yielded three singles in the early innings, but would have retired 10 in a row until two errors led to two runs in the fifth (one was his own).
Sherman (2-1) would snuff the uprising with his seventh and eighth strikeouts before Harleton sophomore Daniel Martin was summoned from the bullpen.
When he got in trouble in the eight, giving up a solo home run and a walk, Waco Midway freshman closed the door and earned a save, striking out half of the six batters he saw.
Panola never trailed, scoring twice in the first when Jonathan Baker walked and Shane Fry, Cody Rogers and Billy Loveless each slashed hits before there was an out. All are freshmen, Baker from Carthage, Loveless from Friendswood, the others from Hallsville.
Every position player in the Panola lineup save Baker would have at least one hit with Fry, Loveless, Travis Reagan of Jasper and Derrick Coleman of Bridge City, all freshmen, belting two.
In the fourth with just a 2-1 lead, Reagan singled, there was an error, Coleman moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Jasper freshman Jared Myrick picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly. When Kofi Osei-Aning tripled, only one runner was aboard, but Panola had what it needed, namely breathing room.
Coleman doubled and scored in the sixth and Choate, Coleman and Myrick had successive hits for the final Pony marker in the eighth.
Weather permitting, the Ponies were off on another road trip to Mesquite Tuesday, then back to play in Carthage Wednesday against Hill College. A February 29-March 2 tournament at Northeast matches Todd Shelton’s charges with Richland, Eastern OK and Murray State.