The Euclid Panther baseball team earned their first win of the season on Thursday April 9th as they outlasted Maple Heights by a final score of 16-6 in five innings.  Aidan Turos got the start on the mound for Euclid and began the game with a quick three strikeouts in the first inning to get the Panther bats opportunities early.

Odavion Sledge led off the game with a double for the Panthers and would come around to score on a passed ball by Maple Heights to give Euclid the early 1-0 lead. They would not surrender the lead for the remainder of the game.  With 1 out and the bases loaded, Nate McClure sent a long fly ball to center field that would plate another run for the Panthers on the sacrifice fly.  Euclid would tag on another run in the inning and lead 3-0 after the first.

After hitting a batter and a Maple Heights runner reaching on an error, Turos had to work himself out of a 2 on and nobody out jam in the top of the second inning.  He struck out the next batter and then walked the next to load the bases with 1 out.  Turos fought backed and struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning with no runs scored. through 2 innings Turos had 6 strikeouts. 

Sledge kept his good game going with a 1-out single in the bottom of the 2nd inning. He was scored by Ty Howard who tripled into the right field corner.  Mo Haynes joined in on the action by hitting another triple that scored Howard.  Brandon Krivacic would score Haynes on a ground ball to the right side of the infield to put a total of three more runs on the board for Euclid. After two innings the Panthers led Maple 6-0.

After recording two quick fly outs in the top of the third inning, Maple Heights was able to load the bases thanks to three straight batters being hit by a pitch. Maple would plate their first run of the game on a bases loaded walk before striking out with the bases still loaded. Euclid still led 6-1.  In the bottom of the third inning, David Fuentes got on base with a sharp single through the left side of the infield. Will Mason drew a walk and brought up Sledge looking to go three for three in the game. Sledge delivered once again with a single to left field which loaded the bases for Euclid. The Panthers would then take advantage of a few wild pitches allowing 4 runs to score in the inning. After three innings, the Panthers led 10-1.

The fourth inning saw Maple Heights take advantage of multiple fielding errors by the Panthers. Maple was able to plate 5 runs in the inning to get back into the game.  The Panthers responded in the bottom half by being patient at the plate and taking multiple walks in the inning. Add in singles from Turos and Nate McClure as well as a double from David Fuentes and Euclid put 5 runs on the board to make it a 15-9 game.

The fifth inning saw Euclid hold Maple scoreless and give them a chance to score one more run and end the game in five innings.  David Fuentes would double and then score on a single by Ty Howard to end the game in the fifth inning with the Panthers on top 16-6.

Aidan Turos picked up the win as he pitched all 5 innings giving up 5 hits and striking out 8 batters.

Sledge and David Fuentes each had three hits a piece, Howard added 2 hits, and Nate McClure had 3 RBIs.