The Saint Jo baseball team won at 2A Nocona on Monday night.
The Panthers won 14-0 in five innings due to run rule, picking up Saint Jo’s fourth straight district win.
Monday’s game was the first the Indians would play in district against fellow Montague County team Saint Jo.
The Panthers jumped out to a lead in the top of the first inning.
Trevor O’Neal led off with a single and Matthew Everson followed with a bunt he was able to reach first base on. After steals from both players, Collin Thomas drove both in with a single.
Following two fly outs in the outfield, Thomas would score on a passed ball. Kile Thurman drew a walk and then stole second base before a hit groundball from Logan Hoover to the shortstop induced an error and allowed Thurman to score and Hoover to reach second base.
Mathew Sampson then drove him in with a single to right field to make the score 5-0.
Nocona did not have any luck with its bats to try and get any runs back. Saint Jo pitcher O’Neal struck out one and induced fly outs to the other two batters.
In the second inning, the Indians got the first two batters out with routine fielding play. Unfortunately for them, a walk to Cooper Harris started a two-out rally for the Panthers.
Caleb Hennessey hit a fly ball to centerfield that was just missed by the diving fielder. The error allowed Hennessey to reach third base.
Thurman then hit a groundball to the shortstop that induced an error that allowed one run to score to make it 6-0.
Nocona threatened offensively with Charlie Fuller hitting a single with one out.
A sacrifice bunt and later a balk by the Saint Jo pitcher allowed Fuller to reach third base, but the Panther’s O’Neal was able to strike out the next batter for out three.
In the third inning, Saint Jo’s Brice Durham was hit by a pitch with one out to get on base before O’Neal hit a hard ball to the wall for a double.
After a fly out, Thomas then hit single to right field that drove in both runners to put the Panthers up 8-0.
Nocona could not get anything going offensively as the game moved to the fourth inning.
The Indians were able to limit Saint Jo to no runs, with only a dropped third strike allowing a base runner on with two outs that led to nothing.
Nocona could not turn that momentum into anything as all three batters were retired and the game moved to the fifth inning.
Saint Jo put together another big inning. Durham drew a walk to lead off.
He reached third base thanks to steals and passed balls before O’Neal drove him in with a single. Everson followed with a walk after O’Neal stole second and third base.
A balk allowed O’Neal to come in and score. Collin Thomas hit a single a line drive to second base that induced another error.
A passed ball let Everson score a run before Henson drew a walk. Next Hennessey grounded into a fielder’s choice for an out at first base, but it allowed another run to come in for the Panthers.
Following a groundball hit to third base from Thurman that he was able to reach first base on, walk later loaded the bases.
Durham then hit a double that drove in two runs to make the score 14-0 before Nocona got the third out.
Needing to score at least five runs to keep the game from ending early, it was not in the cards for the Indians. Saint Jo’s Harris came in to pitch the final inning and struck out two of the three batters to close the game with little trouble.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.