BLUFFTON, Ohio – The Hanover Panthers claimed the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title on Sunday evening as they split with the Beavers of Bluffton.
The title marks the first for Hanover dating back to the 2001 season. The game two victory also lands head coach
Grant Bellak his 100
th career win as a Hanover Panther.
GAME TWO
With the title on the line the Panthers prevailed in extra innings. Hanover wasted little time in game two plating nine runs in the top of the first inning. Junior
Andrew Oesterling (Batesville, Ind.) helped lead the charge as he picked up a two RBI single to center field before junior
Matthew McCoy (Charlestown, Ind.) added two RBI. The final runs of the inning came from the bat of senior
Eric Roudebush (New Palestine, Ind.), 9-0.
However, Bluffton slowly chipped at the deficit over time using a seven run ninth inning to tie the contest 12-12.
It took the Panthers 12 innings in total to ultimately top the Beavers. Sophomore
Robert Carroll (Hendersonville, Tenn.) added what would become the game winning RBI drawing a walk to score senior TJ Laplante (Sheridan, Ind.), 13-12. However, they added three more runs with both junior
Jake Danneman (Edgewood, Ky.) and senior
Connor Farnsley (Jeffersonville, Ind.) adding RBI, 16-12.
Hanover returns to action on Thursday, May 9 at 4:30 PM when they compete as part of the HCAC Tournament.
