A seventh inning three-run surge from Glynn Academy allowed the Red Terrors to leap past Liberty, 8-3, in a Region 2A-AAAA contest Friday night on the Panther’s home turf.
LCHS also celebrated senior night as part of the Panthers’ last home game. Senior baseball players Antonio Smith, Marcus Lecounte and Kevin Chiu were recognized.
Glynn took an early 2-0 lead after base hits and aggressive base running. Liberty added a run in the first.
DeShaun Collins got a hit for the Panthers and later scored off of Curtis Michaelowicz’s RBI hit.
The Panthers held the Red Terrors at bay in the second inning but added two more runs in the top of the third.
Smith smashed a hit and scored off of a sac fly from J.T. Evans.
Panther starter Chiu gave up four runs in the first few innings, prompting a pitching change. Liberty brought in Smith and after LCHS picked up one more run in the fourth, the Panthers faced a 5-3 deficit.
“We hit the ball really well tonight. We had a lot of people on base, but we could never get the big hit,” Liberty head coach Joel Moody said.
Smith fanned Glynn in the top of the fifth, and the score still was 5-3 going into the seventh.
Glynn took advantage of a few errors and banged out some timely hits for an 8-3 lead.
Michaelowicz led the Panthers at the plate with three hits, including a double and an RBI. Collins was 3-4 with two singles and a double. Vince Smith doubled and finished 1-2. Smith and Justin Dixon also each had a base hit.
Liberty drops to 2-16 overall and 0-10 in region play. The Panthers will close out the 2012 season against Johnson High School on Tuesday, April 24.