Berwick eliminated from playoffs after 10-9 loss

The Berwick Panthers’ baseball season ended in heartbreaking fashion Friday night after they rallied back from an 8-2 deficit to come up just short, losing 10-9 to St. Louis in nine innings in the opening round of the Class 3A baseball playoffs.
No. 18 St. Louis jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the top of the third inning before Berwick narrowed the lead to 4-2 with runners scoring on a balk and an RBI-double by Neal Theriot.
The Panthers’ starting pitcher, Nick Duthu, went down with an injury after one and a third innings, Berwick coach Mike Thomas said.
“He’s been the workhorse for us,” Thomas said. “He was the MVP in our district, and he caught muscle spasms in his back, and he cramped up. And he couldn’t go.”
St. Louis extended its lead to 8-2 after the top of the fifth inning.
The Panthers then plated six runs in the bottom of the inning, including an RBI-triple from Brooks Richard, to tie the game at 8.
The score remained tied through the end of the seventh inning, sending the game to extra innings.
In the top of the ninth inning, St. Louis picked up two runs on three singles.
Richard led off the bottom of the ninth inning with another triple and scored on a groundout by Theriot.
Unfortunately, the Panthers could not get anything else going, and the game ended on a groundout to third by Duthu.
The Panthers used six pitchers in Friday’s game, which included Duthu, Brannon Melancon, Andrew Askew, Tim Shelby, Cameron Wiley and Daniel Gray.
Gray took the loss for Berwick.
Berwick’s pitchers combined to allow nine hits, struck out three and walked four batters.
The Panthers did not play well in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, Thomas said.
“That’s not how we play baseball, but after that the kids came back, and they fought,” Thomas said.
Berwick did not get the leadoff hitter on base in the bottom of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, which hurt the Panthers, Thomas said.
“We like to run,” Thomas said. “Going into this game, the scouting report was you can run on these guys. And we were not given that opportunity, so that hurt.”
St. Louis got the leadoff hitter on in the eighth and ninth innings.
“They were able to capitalize in the top of the ninth,” Thomas said.
“Proud of the kids, proud of the seniors,” Thomas said. “There’s nothing that one person did wrong to cause this. It just wasn’t meant to be. Hats off to them. They fought just as hard as we did.”
The game capped the careers of seven Berwick seniors, Bobby Boudreaux, Duthu, Brandon Hampton, Melancon, Richard, Shelby and Austin Spencer.
Pitching and defense were Berwick’s strengths coming into the season, Thomas said. “They did what we asked them to do,” Thomas said.
Berwick finished the season with a 17-11 record with five one-run losses, Thomas said.
“I’m very proud of the effort that the kids gave all year,” he said.
Berwick’s players will now get ready for summer baseball.
St. Louis Coach Stephen Wren said he has talked to his team about continuing to fight no matter what the score is.
“Berwick did a great job of battling back, and I’ve got to give credit to my guys,” Wren said. “They stayed calm, and they stayed cool. They fought the entire time. They never gave up like we had talked about.”
St. Louis pitcher Peyton Doumite struck out five Panthers. He and Ferguson Cochran combined to give up 10 hits and two walks. Cochran earned the win in relief.
When asked about the situation with Livonia being inserted into the 3A playoffs after the brackets were made, Wren said his team is ready to play whichever team wins in the opening round. With Livonia’s win against No. 31 Kaplan Saturday, Livonia now will play No. 2 Evangel Christian today. The winner of that game will play St. Louis in the next round.