In the first game of the best of three match-up between 15 5 A third placer Lufkin Panthers versus the second place  16 5A Klein Oak Panthers.  Chase Barnett took the mound for the Panthers defense.    In the top of the first inning the Panthers defense shut down the first three Lufkin batters.  Klein Oak Panther’s Scott Arthur leadoffs the inning with a full count triple.  Two hole, Kaleb Goodell, singles in Arthur for the first run of the night.  The end of the first 1-0 Panthers.

Once again, Barnett only see’s three batters striking out one, walking one and the last Lufkin batter rolled a ground ball to Arthur who flips it to second baseman Wes Theiss who turns it to Brent McMinn at first base to end the top of the second inning.  In the bottom of the second inning the Panthers generate a quick run when the designated hitter Travis Walker is handed a base on balls steals second and third and advances home for the second Panther run off of an errant Lufkin throw.

Top of the third inning the first batter hits a sharp ground ball to Panther second baseman Thiess who delivers to McMinn at first base a hard to handle throw, the runner is safe and turns to advance to second all the while Panther catcher CJ Manning , with his never ending hustle, is backing up first base and catches the errant throw,  tosses the ball quickly back to the McMinn who tags the runner for the first out.  Lufkin manages to get two runs on one hit going into the bottom of the third, (first Gold Star play of the evening).  Lufkin only see’s three at Panther bats in the bottom half of three.  Tie ball game 2-2.

 In the top of the fourth Barnett faces five batters gives up two base hits, fields a ground out for the first out, strikes out the next batter and Arthur retrieves a fly ball for the third out of the inning.  The Panther have an equally quick inning with a walk and three consecutive fly outs.  Tie ball game going into the fifth.

Top of five, Lufkin's lead off batter, their catcher Marberry, hits a double.  The Panthers then have three consecutive gold star defensive plays.  First baseman McMinn catches a very hard hit ground ball tags the base and holds the runner at second for the first out, then a laser line drive is shot down to third baseman Austin Jackson who snags it for the second out.  The next batter pulls a hard hit ground ball to Jackson at third that makes a back handed catch, steps and throws for out number three.  Bottom of the fifth inning,the Panthers leadoff batter Jackson walks, but cannot advance with two ground outs and a third out was caught by their left fielder. Tie ball game going into the sixth inning.

Chase Barnett returns to the mound and faces the Lufkin first baseman, Tatum, who jerks a one and one pitch out of the park for a solo homerun and Lufkin takes the lead 2-3.  The next Lufkin batter walks and is advanced to second off of a single, which is followed by another Arthur, Theiss, McMinn double play for two outs and one Lufkin Panther on third base.  The next Panther grounds out to shortstop Scott Arthur.  Lufkin leads going into the bottom half of six.  Wes Theiss leads off and brings a spark back to the KO Panthers with a single, unfortunately, Theiss is thrown out at second by the pitcher who fields Garrett Harrison’s attempted sacrifice bunt.  One out and Walker is given a free ticket to first.  Austin Jackson comes to the plate with two outs, bottom of the sixth, one run behind with a two and one count he hammers the next pitch over the left field fence for a two run home run and the KO Panther take the lead at the end of six, 5-3.

The Top of the seventh, sidearmer Barnett returns to his favorite spot.  Barnett will only see one batter who singles and lands on first base.  Reliever, freshman, Travis Walker enters the game and allows two hits and three runs.  Coaches decide bring in Junior, Ryan Hudnall.  Hudnall walks three and allows a single while striking out a Lufkin Panther for the second out of the inning.  Lefty, Freshman,  Kaleb Goodell takes the rock from Hudnall with one out remaining.  Goodell faces one batter and sits him down on three strikes.   Never say never with this crew!  Panther catcher Manning leads off and takes one for the team to land on first base.  Scott Arthur receives a  four pitch walk to first base bringing up  Goodell  who drives a single to load up the bases.  Third hole,  Wes Theiss then battles a full count walk, sending in another run.  With no outs, Garrett Harrison then sacrifices with a fly ball to right field, Arthur tags up from third on the short pop fly and head first slides into home and gets a safe call.   Walker takes a base on balls to fill the bases again, then Andy  Wilson takes four balls and an RBI to tie the ball game 8-8.  Home run man, Austin Jackson then seals the deal and delivers his third RBI of the night on a one out sacrifice fly ball to deep right field to easily score Thiess.  Panther up one game to zip.