PHOTOS: ECHS baseball sweeps Beauregard in area series

The Elmore County Panthers hosted Class 5A Area 6 opponent Beauregard on Tuesday night, beating the Hornets for their first win of area play, 4-3. ECHS followed up Tuesday’s win by sweeping Beauregard in the three-game area series with 6-5 and 13-2 wins over the Hornets on Thursday at Beauregard.In Tuesday’s competition, Shelton Darnell stood out as the home-game hero with his 12-strikeout performance on the mound and a two-RBI triple that put Elmore County in the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, just before a 45-minute lightning delay. On Thursday, Gage Davis took the mound for the Panthers, allowing four hits and five runs in a five-inning outing, striking out two batters and walking five. Ross Pike came in for the final two innings, closing out the game with four strikeouts of his own. Darnell once again led ECHS at the plate with two hits and one RBI on two at-bats for a 6-5 win. In the final game of the series, Kason Moe took his turn on the mound, allowing two hits and two runs, plus six walks and four strikeouts in five innings. University of Mobile commit Evan Spence closed the game with one hit allowed and three strikeouts. Sawyer Dutton and Darnell took command of the plate, with each contributing two hits. Darnell added three RBIs, as did Spence. The Panthers have their next area series this week, at Valley on Tuesday and back in Eclectic on Thursday night.