Fort Madison played its final Southeast Conference game of the year Thursday and got a great start in its road game at Mount Pleasant.
Unfortunately the Panthers had a big fourth inning that was the difference in the game., an 11-4 win for Mount Pleasant.
Fort Madison scored three runs in the top of the first inning and held the Panthers scoreless behind Owen Huffman until the fateful fourth.
Huffman gave up a lone hit in the first three innings but gave up three singles in the first four batters of the fourth inning. An error allowed the next batter to reach base.
Huffman recorded his seventh strikeout of the game for the second out. A single, a bunt, an error then a double allowed the third through the seventh runs of the Panthers inning to score. A line out ended the inning.
Micheal Fuller came in to pitch the fifth and hit the first batter, walked the second and fanned the third. A walk, a sacrifice fly and a single followed before Corbin Van Niewaal got the last out. He retired the Panthers in order in the sixth inning.
The Bloodhounds took advantage of a Mount Pleasant error — each team had three miscues — in the first inning to get some momentum. Aiden mitchell got to second base on the roor, advanced on a fly ball and scored on a passed ball. Tateum Shelich and Brody Cashman hit back-to-back singles and Huffman reached base on another error. Hunter Cook put the ball in play and another error scored two runs for a 3-0 lead.
Huffman hit an one-out single in the top of the sixth that was followed by a hit batsman and a walk to load the bases. Van Niewaal’s ground out scored Huffman and a line out ended the inning.
Fort Madison had six hits and Schelich had two of them. Hunter Cook and Reece Huey also had a hit in the game.
With one regular season game remaining, Schelich led the team in batting average this season at .333.
Luke Hellige was next at .322 and he led the Bloodhounds in RBIs and on base percentage at .461. Huey is second at .373.
The Bloodhounds finished the Southeast Conference season with a 7-8 record and are 7-20 overall with a home game Monday against Oskaloosa (15-11) then a postseason opener Friday at Cedar Rapids Xavier (15-15).