On a Friday night more suitable for mud wrestling than baseball,the Brookhaven Panthers shut out Franklin County’s Bulldogs 6-0 onrain-soaked Moyer Field. Pitchers Paxton King and Brandt Hintoncombined for a 9-strikeout, 1-hitter that lasted 5 and 1/2 inningsbefore a steady downpour halted play.

Brookhaven (2-0) begins Division 6-4A play Tuesday night,hosting the defending division champion Lawrence County Cougars. Ajunior varsity game starts the action at 5 p.m., followed by thevarsity at 7.

“We had a no-hitter into the sixth,” said Ole Brook baseballcoach Randy Spring. “We’ve pitched two straight shutouts.”

Last Saturday at Columbia, Ole Brook pitcher Josh Coone hadhurled a perfect game as the Panthers blanked Perry Central. Springhad predicted that pitching would be his team’s strength thisseason.

“We’ve played two games in bad conditions and we haven’t beenable to get on the field this week,” said Spring. “We were rustytonight and it affected out hitting early but we adjusted.”

Franklin County didn’t adjust to King, a sophomore southpaw.King struck out 5 batters in 2 innings and walked none.

Senior right-hander Brandt Hinton (1-0) took over and collected4 strikeouts in 3 innings of work with 1 base on balls, notchingthe win. A leadoff single to center by Dann Griffith end theBuldogs’ hitting famine. Griffith was picked off first base byHinton.

Offensively, the Panthers plated 3 runs in the fourth and 3 morein the fifth. First baseman Garrion Crockett led off the fourthwith a double left field. Coone reached on a fielding error andCole Newell delivered a 2-RBI single over the second base bag. Kingdrew a base on balls and Marlon Dixon was hit by a pitch to loadthe bases. Zach Watson’s bunt in front of the plate squeezed homethe third run.

In the fifth, southpaw Ben McDowell replaced starting hurlerBlain Abernathy on the mound. Crockett led off and smacked anopposite field single. Pappas beat out a grounder to deep short.King delivered an RBI single to score courtesy runner T.J.Qualls.

Pinch-hitter Cody Ratcliff contributed a 2-RBI single, offrelief pitch Dann Hodges, scoring Pappas and Newell for a 6-0lead.

Abernathy absorbed the loss. In 4 innings, he gave up 3 runs on5 hits, striking out 4 and walking 2.

Brookhaven won the JV game 10-1

Jacob Dunn Honored.

In a pregame ceremony at home plate, Ole Brook sophomoreoutfielder Jacob Dunn was memorialized. Dunn was killed in an autoaccident Aug. 27.

Dunn’s parents, David and Sondra Dunn, and his sister, Bridgett,were presented with his uniform and two baseball gloves in aglass-enclosed shadow box. His No. 5 jersey number won’t be wornuntil his class graduates. Ole Brook players are wearing a No. 5 ontheir caps this season to remember him.