Giants end Panthers baseball season in playoff action May 30

A big fourth inning upended Berwick’s playoff hopes Thursday in a 9-6 first-round loss at Jena.
Leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, Berwick (17-13) allowed the bases to be loaded before Jena struck with a base-clearing double. The Giants went on to add two more runs to push their lead to 7-3.
“(Starting pitcher) Neil Theriot did a great job of keeping us in the game early,” Berwick Coach Mike Thomas said. “But when he began to tire, we were forced to use five more pitchers.”
The Panthers have used seven to 12 different pitchers in its rotation this season.
Berwick added three runs in the top of the fifth inning to close the gap to 7-6, but Jena also added two runs in the bottom of the inning, resulting in the 9-6 margin.
“Our players played hard and competed well,” Thomas said. “We had several opportunities to score more runs and we didn’t take advantage of those opportunities. When we got down, I thought our kids fought hard and gave themselves an opportunity in the later innings. I am very proud of their effort tonight. Like I told our young players, we need to learn from this and get better so we can get back to where we need to be.”
Berwick hadn’t scored in four straight games coming into Thursday’s playoff game.
“We struggled early on this season at the plate but we hit pretty well in the middle of our schedule,” Thomas said before the game. “Now we’re struggling again. We’ve gone back to the fundamentals of hitting and we have stressed being more aggressive. We want them to be aggressive early in the count. It only takes a couple guys to get hot and the team takes off.”
Leading hitters for the Panthers were Justin Morvant and Cameron Wiley, both 2-for-3; Brandon Fryou, 2-for-4 with two doubles; Daniel Gray, 2-for-4; and Tanner Caldwell, 1-for-3.
Berwick High School hasn’t advanced past the first or second round of the state tournament since 2007 when they made the semifinals. Before that, Berwick was a perennial state title contender.
Jena (19-5), the District 3-3A champ and 15th-seed, came into the ball game winning eight of its last 10.
Thomas was pleased with Berwick’s effort in the game.
“Our goals this year, just like every year, was to win a district championship and go back to the tournament and compete for a state championship,” Thomas said. “We fell short, but our players have nothing to be ashamed of. They played hard and I am very proud of their effort this (Thursday) evening.”
--From Staff Reports