The French Camp baseball team opened the season with a strong pitching performance in a 5-0 win over Winona and a 12-hit attack resulting in a 10-7 victory over Winston Academy.
“It's a different start for us,” said coach Nathan Wright. “Typically, we go about 0-8 before we begin division play, so it's encouraging to start with some wins.”
Holman Edwards and John Weeks combined on a two hitter against Winona. Edwards threw three hitless innings with two strikeouts and Weeks fanned eight, while allowing two hits in four innings.
Logan Burchfield had two singles and drove in one run. Edwards, Weeks, Seth Box and Colin Perry each had an RBIs.
The Panthers scored three runs in the top of the eighth to defeat Winston Academy. Burchfield led off the inning with a triple and scored on a throwing error. Weeks and Leathers followed with singles and both scored on a single by Edwards, who had three RBIs in the game.
Weeks led the attack with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. Perry and Leathers each had two hits, Perry scored twice and Leathers once. Box, Phillip Lucas and Javen Anderson all had doubles.
Box was the winning pitcher and Edwards picked up a save.
“I challenged the guys because we have a lot of guys returning and there was no reason why we couldn't be competitive from the beginning,” Wright said. “The guys are really finding their groove early.”
The Panthers played Eupora Monday and Calhoun City Tuesday. They will be at Winona Friday.
