Panthers’ season ends despite seven-inning tournament gem

Jack Schultz was handed the baseball for the NRHEG Panthers in their Section 2A Tournament game at St. James last Friday.

He took good care of it.

The junior right-hander wrote himself into the school record books, pitching a seven-inning no-hitter, but it wasn’t enough as the Panthers struggled offensively and fell short 2-1, ending their season.

“Jack did more than you can ask of anyone,” said NRHEG coach Drew Paukert. “They had one hard-hit ball against him.”

Freshman Cole Thompson took care of that, chasing it down in left field and making a running, leaping catch to preserve Schultz’s gem. First baseman Eli Lutgens also had a nice defensive play, snagging a high infield throw and tagging the baserunner.

But Schultz was the story. He finished with five strikeouts and four walks, two of which scored, one on a suicide squeeze.

The Panthers, meanwhile, had plenty of scoring opportunities but were not able to get a clutch hit. In six of seven innings, they had a baserunner reach second.

“Some baserunning miscues cost us,” said Paukert.

Cole Staloch and Sawyer VanMaldeghem finished with two hits each for the Panthers, who totaled six hits.

“Overall, I am extremely proud of this team,” said Paukert, whose squad finished 9-14 overall and 3-9 in the Gopher Conference after starting 0-6. “They could have easily hung their heads three weeks ago when we were sitting in the 15th spot in the section. To their credit, they kept coming to work every day and bought into the fact that it doesn’t matter what you did early in the season, you want to be playing your best ball at the end of it, which I felt we did today. We had chances against St. James and GFW, but unfortunately the ball didn’t bounce our way.”

GFW 4, NRHEG 0

The Panthers made the long road trip to Fairfax Tuesday, May 31 and failed to capitalize on early opportunities.

Dempsey Tucker went the distance on the mound, giving up four earned runs on six hits, with three strikeouts and four walks.

John Hubly had two hits, Staloch and Lutgens one apiece.

“Overall, I felt we came out pretty flat tonight,” said Paukert. “Dempsey pitched well enough to give us a chance; we made some plays behind him in the field.”

Included was an acrobatic, diving catch in center field by Palmer Peterson, who saved at least a triple.

“He made one of the nicer catches you’ll see by a high schooler,” said Paukert. “Offensively, we were just flat. We didn’t do a nice job of putting the ball in play when we had opportunities to score.”

The Panthers graduated seniors Tucker, Peterson, Hubly, Lutgens, C.J. Schiltz, Trai Wicks and Jack Skalicky.