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Panthers continue sterling play PREP BASEBALL The South Medford High baseball team has a lot of familiar faces in its lineup from a year ago. And now the Panthers have a new coach. The two are proving to be a winning combination. Josh Tompkins fired a four-hitter and the Panthers played airtight defense Thursday and pinned a 4-2 loss on Putnam at South Medford High. The victory was the Panthers' fifth in six games under new coach Pete Whisler. "We've got a good nucleus of talent, a solid pitching staff and one of the best head coaches in the state," South Medford assistant coach Dave Daugherty said. "Pete (Whisler) has brought some discipline into the program, and these kids believe they can win each time they take the field. "I think it's going to be a fun year." South played error-free defense for the third straight game and that made life rather comfortable for Tompkins, who had four strikeouts and three walks in a route-going performance. Leadoff hitter Brett Haag went 2-for-4 and wasted no time in getting the Panthers going offensively. He led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on an error. The Panthers added single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings. Rex Putnum ................... 010 001 0 -- 2 4 4 South Medford ............... 110 101 0 -- 4 5 0 Giman and Barth. Tompkins and Shine. W -- Tompkins (2-0). L -- Giman. 2B -- P: Currin; SM: Haag, Bock. HR -- P: Jones. NORTH MEDFORD 16, MARSHFIELD 8 -- Jim Pickrel's grand slam capped a nine-run fifth inning as North Medford improved to 5-1 with the non-league victory. The visiting Pirates took advantage of early wildness by Black Tornado starting pitcher John Whitaker to push across five runs in the top of the first inning at North Medford High. But Jason Crandall came off the bench to quiet the Marshfield bats. He gave up a sacrifice fly in the first inning, one run in the second and allowed two unearned runs in the third. Then, he retired the last 13 batters he faced to pick up the win. North Medford had only three hits in its nine-run inning, but parlayed six walks, two hit batsman and an error to turn the game into a rout. Pickrel finished 2-for-3 at the plate, scored three times and drove in four runs, while Nate Mayben stole four bases. Marshfield .................... 512 000 0 -- 8 7 5 North Medford .............. 102 193 x -- 16 8 3 Wade, Henry (5), Westergard (5), Snoddy (5) and Holcomb. Whitaker, Crandall (2) and Brownell. W -- Crandall (1-0). L -- Henry. 2B -- M: Snoddy. 3B -- NM: Gonzales, Pickrel. HR -- NM: Pickrel. CRATER 6-13, WILSONVILLE 4-3 --At Central Point, visiting Wilsonville pulled off a suicide squeeze in the first inning of the opener to take a 3-0 lead, but the Comets roared back to register a sweep of the non-league doubleheader. The Comets pulled a surprise of their own in the fifth inning of the first game when Brent Foster stole home, tying the game at 4-4. Crater then went ahead for good in the sixth thanks to Jason Korthal's two-run single. Foster finished the first game 3-for-3 with a triple. The bizarre play continued in the nightcap when Crater registered six walks and 10 stolen bases to score five runs in the first inning -- without the benefit of a hit. The second game ended after five innings due to the 10-run rule as the Comets remained unbeaten at 5-0. FIRST GAME Wilsonville ................ 300 010 0 -- 4 6 2 Crater ........................ 102 012 x -- 6 10 1 Handegaao and Wigger. Chubb and Hinojosa. W -- K.J. Chubb (2-0). L -- Handegaao. 2B -- W: Miken. C: Pardee. 3B -- C: Foster, Korthals. SECOND GAME Wilsonville .............. 000 03 -- 3 8 3 Crater ...................... 520 6x -- 13 6 1 Farr, Hunt (1), Callahan (4) and Baggett. Pardee and Hinojosa, Steele (4). W -- Pardee (1-0). L -- Farr. 2B -- C: P.J. Pardee. HIDDEN VALLEY 6, BARLOW 5 -- At Murphy, Seth Pietch cracked a pair of RBI doubles and made two spectacular catches in the outfield as Hidden Valley edged Barlow of Gresham. Winning pitcher Tanner Mason was also a force at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Catcher John Hoagland chipped in two hits as the Mustangs triumphed for the second time in as many games. Barlow ........................ 110 020 1 -- 5 8 0 Hidden Valley ............. 202 200 x -- 6 9 2 Pentacoast and Armstrong. Tanner Mason, Beard (6), Adler (7) and Hoagland. W -- Mason (1-0). L -- Pentacoast. 2B -- HV: Mason, Pietch 2, Hoagland. CASCADE CHRISTIAN 10, UMPQUA VALLEY CHRISTIAN 5 --At White City, senior left-hander Josiah Gettman fired a two-hitter and Cascade Christian exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the first inning to thwart Umpqua Valley Christian in the non-league game played at the V.A. Domiciliary. Jason McCord's two-run double and Andy Bellamy's subsequent triple were the big blows for Cascade Christian in the first inning. Gettman allowed four runs in the top of the first but just one run thereafter. He finished with three strikeouts and two walks. With the win, the Challengers ran their season record to 5-0. Umpqua Valley Christian ............. 410 000 0 -- 5 2 3 Cascade Christian ........................ 701 020 x -- 10 9 3 Zink, Goben (1), Hess (6) and Carpenter. Gettman and Roberts, Stutzman (6). W -- Gettman (1-0). L -- Zink. 2B -- CC: Beamish, Stutzman, McCord. 3B -- CC: Bellamy. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.