By Michael Lindsay
The Stone Memorial Panthers kept their hot start to the 2023 season rolling Thursday evening as they picked up a road shutout victory at Oakdale, 6-0.
Senior lefty Killian Diem recorded the victory for Stone Memorial as he gave up only 3 hits with no walks in 5 shutout innings.
“We had Killian take the mound for us and he did a phenomenal job,” said Panther head coach Trent Stokes. “60 pitches in 5 innings with no walks is as efficient as you want him to be.”
At the plate, Kamryn Melton, Nolan Wyatt and Colin Tiegs recorded multiple hits, led by Melton who went 3-3 with a double, run scored and a stolen base.
“Kamryn Melton had two nice hits for us,” Stokes said. “Nolan Wyatt started things off for us with the first RBI; he’s been an RBI machine the last few weeks and doing a great job.”
Stone Memorial got on the board quickly Thursday as the Panthers posted 3 runs with 2 outs in the top of the first inning. Tiegs scored on a wild pitch before a Wyatt single to right scored Braden Looper and Diem.
A Nick Osmun single in the top of the second inning scored Tiegs to extend Stone Memorial’s lead to 4-0. In the top of the third, Wade Wilson drew a bases-loaded two-out walk to score Wyatt and give the Panthers a 5-0 advantage.
Stone’s final run came in the top of the fifth via a Rayce Boston single followed by an Oakdale error that allowed Melton to reach home safely for the Panthers’ 6th run of the evening.
Osmun shut the door on the Eagles in the bottom of the seventh inning with three strikeouts to preserve Stone Memorial’s 4th straight victory, 6-0.
“The boys are going out there expecting to win now,” Stokes said. “We’ve battled in a lot of games this year. They’ve got a resilient attitude and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys. This is one of the funnest teams I’ve been a part of. I’m really happy with the demeanor and mindset of the guys right now.”
The Panthers improve to 14-3 overall and are scheduled to play at Kingston Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. CST weather permitting.
