Staff photo by Matt Hempel Texarkana College catcher Adam Dalby tries to stop Panola's Elliot Roberts from scoring Friday at George Dobson Field.

By JOHNNY GREEN
Sports Director

Supposedly the toughest out in baseball is the last one. For Texarkana College Friday it was the last three.

The Bulldogs managed to turn victory to defeat twice at George Dobson Field, each time allowing Panola College to come from behind in the final inning with 5-run ralllies. The 7-inning first game ended 10-9, and the 9-inning nightcap 10-7, the latter coming after Texarkana had come back from a 5-0 deficit.

The double loss in the opening game of the second round in Region XIV North play dropped the Bulldogs to 6-10 in the league and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in several years. The two teams had come into the twin bill tied for fifth place, but the Ponies, 30-17 overall, moved two games in front of TC at 8-8 with their second sweep of the Bulldogs.

"These two losses are pretty hard to take, especially the way we lost," said TC coach James Mansinger. "We've put ourselves in a hole as far as making the playoffs. I just don't know what it's going to take."

Texarkana seemingly had a lock on the first game, leading 9-5 after six innings. But the Ponies sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh, scoring five runs, Taylor Richards delivering the winning hit off Joel Thorney, who was facing his first batter.

Elliott Love, who took over for starter Jermaine Mitchell in the fourth, blanked Panola until the seventh when he was replaced by Keith Jenkins. Panola got to Jenkins for four hits, including a two-out, two-run double by Elliott Roberts that tied the game.

But the Bulldogs gave the Ponies an extra out before Roberts' hit. The third run of the inning was actually beaten to the plate by the relay throw from the outfield, but the ball was dropped on the tag. Then, before Richards broke the tie, a TC infielder committed a mental error, checking a baserunner before throwing too late to first base on what would have been the third out.

A two-out Panola error led to a six-run second inning by TC that gave Mitchell a 7-0 lead, but the freshman left-hander obviously tired running the bases and yielded three runs in the third and two more in the fourth before being replaced by Love.

Texarkana scored single runs in the sixth on a double by Daniel Berg, a fly ball and a groundout by Adam Roos, and in the sixth when Steven Trout lofted his eighth home run of the season over the center field wall.

Berg also had a two-run double in the big second inning and Mitchell drove in a pair of runs with two singles. Richards, Roberts and Stephen Spaugh had three hits each for Panola and Richards drove in three runs.

Panola combined three hits and two walks by TC second-game starter Cody White to scored four runs in the third inning, then added another in the fourth before Kevin Cohn took over on the mound. Cohn, who pitched several innings on Monday, allowed only three hits before being lifted after a leadoff double in the ninth.

"Kevin pitched well for us today," Mansinger said. "He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win."

Unfortunately, Love couldn't match his first-game success, giving up three hits and a walk before Thorney retired the side. But not before Daniel Beaver capped the rally with a 2-run single off the first-base bag.

TC, 17-21 overall, trimmed its early deficit to 5-2 in the fourth on a solo homer by Berg to right field and Trout's RBI groundout after an error.

After Danny Williams doubled and scored on Adam Roos' single in the sixth, the Bulldogs reverted to "small ball" to take the lead with four runs in the seventh.

Trout walked, was balked to second, and the next three batters bunted the ball, two of them reaching base on a fielder's choice and an error. An intentional walk to Mitchell, two wild pitches and Williams' 2-run single put the Bulldogs ahead.
Texarkana had only seven hits in the nightcap, two by Williams. Andrew Russell added a double.
In other conference games Friday, Paris (4-12) split with league-leading Northeast Texas Community College (12-4), winning 6-1 and losing 10-6, and Angelina College swept Bossier Parish Community College (8-8), 4-2 and 9-8.

FIRST GAME

Panola 003 200 5 - 10 14 3                                                                                                                              Texarkana 160 001 0 - 9 9 1
Caleb Brown, Derek Blacksher (3), Chad Bell (7) and Stephen Spaugh. Jermaine Mitchell, Elliott Love (4), Keith Jenkins (7), Joel Thorney (7) and Adam Dalby. WP-Blacksher. LP-Jenkins. HR: TC-Steven Trout, 6th, none on.

SECOND GAME

Panola 004 100 005 - 10 12 2
Texarkana 000 201 400 -7 7 2
 Phillip Lynch, Dale Tyson (5), Dozier Taylor (7) and Stephen Spaugh. Cody White, Kevin Cohn (4), Elliott Love (9), Joel Thorney (9) and Adam Dalby. WP-Taylor. LP-Love. HR: TC-Daniel Berg, 4th, none on.