TCU ends Panthers season

A 4-1 loss to Tri-City United ended the Panthers’ sub-section runs on Thursday, May 28, ending a season of ups and downs for the Panthers and their new coach, Drew Paukert. 
While the season may be over, Paukert says he hopes the season proved to be the first step toward years of excellent baseball under his tutelage. 
“I felt my first season as a head coach was a success,” said Paukert. “The boys were able to see what I was trying to get them to do would allow us to be successful when we got out to that 5-2 start.”
The quick start was short-lived, however, as the Panthers finished the season 1-10, with a single win against Blooming Prairie. 
“We went through our ups and downs losing 10 of our last 11 games, but the boys kept coming to practice each and everyday ready to work and did everything that I asked of them all season,” said Paukert.
Paukert added that he was encouraged by assistant coaches and parents who informed him that the players had grown tremendously from the year prior. 
“(The team) really showed a lot of fight this year, battling a number of great teams, and (they) showed they can play with anyone in our area,” said Paukert. “I felt our seniors provided our younger players with tremendous leadership, and those younger guys will know what it is like to be a positive, successful leader of a team.”
The leadership and continuous fight of the Panthers landed them one of the biggest wins of the season, a 10-4 victory against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in the first game of the sub-section tournament. The Panthers had defeated WEM 13-13 early in the season but fell 9-0 during their eight-game losing streak. 
“Beating WEM was a huge win for both our season and our program moving forward,” said Paukert. “It was one of the bigger wins in recent history for the Panthers baseball program. It really showed our boys what we are capable of doing when we can (compete) up to our potential and play a complete game.”
Paukert added that the win proved that the playoffs create a clean slate for teams — a brand new season. 
“It is important to make sure you are playing your best baseball at the end of May, because anything can happen, like we proved against WEM,” said Paukert.
Paukert added that the win against WEM was bigger than just one game. 
“Getting that big sub-section win over WEM was a great first playoff game and win for me as a head coach,” said Paukert. “I feel that win gave a lot of our fans and younger players some excitement for the future. I know some parents made comments to me about younger kids in the stands that night wanting to be apart of exciting games like that when they get to the varsity level. I believe I got the program moving forward in the right direction and (I) look forward to the years ahead.”
The exciting win against WEM proved to be the last of the season, as NRHEG took back-to-back losses against Waseca and Tri-City United to end the Panthers’ playoff run. Waseca sophomore pitcher Eric Maas proved to be too much for the Panthers’ hitters, as the Blue Jays allowed only two runs from the NRHEG offense. 
“Maas did a nice job Wednesday night,” said Paukert. “Coming into the game, we knew he was a fastball pitcher, and that held to be true. Our guys struggled to keep up with his fastball, we were trying to pull the baseball, when versus a pitcher like Maas, you are most effective going the opposite field with the ball, because you’re not going to get around on him most times.”
Paukert also added that the Blue Jays ran their offense game brilliantly, playing small ball and moving runners base to base. 
“They are disciplined at the plate and don’t swing at a lot of pitches out of the zone, which forces the pitcher to come into the zone,” said Paukert. 
Disciplined batting by Waseca, and a handful of walks and errors by NRHEG earned the Blue Jays eight runs in the 8-2 final. 
Down 4-0 in the seventh inning, NRHEG managed to score one run and load the bases with leadoff hitter Trevor Tracy at the plate. However, senior pitcher Ryan Thompson was up to the task, retiring the senior batter to secure the Waseca win. Stranded runners and a first inning throwing error hurt the Panthers in what was otherwise a well-played game. NRHEG had nine hits and only allowed four against Tri-City United, but a three-run fifth-inning off three hits gave TCU a solid 4-0 lead that would prove too much to overcome for the Panthers. 
The Panthers ended the season 7-14 overall. They will retire seven seniors, including: Grant Kyllo, Jet Wayne, Andy Shutrop, Trevor Tracy, Dakota Thiele, Matt Jensen and Spencer Tollefson.