Blue Wave Baseball Again Falls to Newberry

P.K. Yonge  baseball can’t figure out the Newberry Panthers this season. The Blue Wave was shellshocked by the Panthers 20-3 on Friday at Bobby Hawkins Field after getting run-ruled 13-1 on Feb. 19 in Newberry.

The Blue Wave again got behind early in the game Friday when senior starter Charlie Tumminia (2-1) gave up a two-run home run to Gator commit Tavis Honeycutt in the first inning. Tumminia lasted 2 1/2 innings while allowing six runs.

The scoring for the Panthers (15-5) opened up in the third inning when they added four runs following mistakes by Blue Wave fielders.

Momentum seemed to shift when Noah Grogan came in to pitch. He struck out six batters in relief, including an impressive strikeout of Honeycutt, the nation’s top home run hitter with 13 according to Maxpreps, that lit up the Blue Wave crowd.

This game was more competitive than the final score showed. The Blue Wave (12-7) kept themselves within three runs at the end of the fifth inning thanks to a two-run double by Gerardo Barrios in the third and a RBI single by Tyler Belleville in the fifth.

Unfortunately for the home team, after a three-game week, the Blue Wave and Grogan started to lose track of the Panthers, who buried them in a deeper deficit in the sixth inning. Walks loaded the bases and cost them two runs.

“In the sixth inning it was still a game, but we just kind of ran out of arms,” P.K. Yonge coach Rob Brunson said

Grogan was taken out after feeling arm fatigue. Sean Hudson came in to relieve him, but due to four errors  and a grand slam home run by senior Lucas Delker, the Panthers scored 12 runs in the seventh to seal their seventh consecutive win.

“I hated putting Sean in that tough situation, but, unfortunately, he was the last arm I had available,” Brunson said.

As the Blue Wave head into the final stretch of the regular season, Brunson looks to continue work on fundamentals for his young team.

“Every day we’re working on hundreds of ground balls, on fly-ball machines and hundreds of pitches,” Brunson said. “It’s the time of the season they have to go out and just produce.”

P.K. Yonge will look to bounce back Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Chiefland (6-10). The previous matchup on Wednesday was a clutch 6-4 win for the Blue Wave in eight innings after Tumminia’s three-run home run.

Category: High School Sports, Newberry High School, PK Yonge High School