Portal’s baseball season has been a rough go early on — losing six of their first seven games of the 2017 campaign.
    On the other side of the diamond were another set of Panthers in Liberty County — who have lost eight of their first 11 games this season.
    Both sides were in desperate need of a slump buster — and the Panthers from Bulloch County found themselves on top when it was all said and done Thursday night.
    Portal ended their five game losing streak with a 13-8 win over Liberty County, a win which head coach Dennis Moore said his team deserved after the rough start.
    “We had a rough one on Tuesday and really wanted to make a good effort today,” said head coach Dennis Moore. “We got down early and finally got one to go in our favor.”
    By even his own admission it wasn’t the prettiest of baseball games. The two sides combined for eight walks and five errors, but in the end a win is a win when you came into the game 1-6.
    “We will take it whatever way we can,” Moore said. “There are still some things to correct but it’s always more fun to do that after a win.”
    After going down 5-2 in the top of the third, Portal had their chance to respond in the latter half of the frame when the first four hitters who came to the plate all reached base safely.
    With runners on first and second, Jake Brown hit a deep ball to centerfield over the head of Jacob Albertson that rattled against the fence to bring in Simpkins from second and cut the deficit 5-3.
    Fellow senior Landon Stephens followed by smacking a single through the gap at second to score Blaize Murphy to make it 5-4. But Liberty would turn things around quickly following Stephens at-bat — registering two quick outs to put the pressure on the seven-hole hitter Keegan McCoy.
    McCoy went down in the count after swinging and missing at the first two pitches he saw, then after taking the third pitch hit the fourth right back up the middle to bring in both runners and give Portal the lead. 
    “Keegan’s hits came with two strikes and two outs, which says a lot about the quality of his at-bats,” Moore said. “Those were huge hits.”
    The night would prove to be big for both McCoy and Stephens, who each went had two hits and three RBI on the night — alleviating the pressure off Brown who’s normally counted on for run production.
    So while his teammates handled business at the dish, Brown could focus on something that had been an achilles heel for Portal this young season — pitching. Even after getting into early trouble, Brown was able to fight through to give his team 85 pitches in five innings.
    The top of the third is where Brown saw most of his trouble. After striking out the two of the first three hitters he saw, Brown would give up two walks, a double and single to allow Liberty County to score three runs and go up 5-2.
    It didn’t help matters that Portal gave up four stolen bases in the inning to help move Liberty County around the basepaths, but following that inning Brown settled in and struck out four of the next nine hitters he faced before he was relieved.
    “Jake never lost his poise, and it seemed like he hit an extra gear in the fifth inning,” Moore said. “Even when his pitch count got high he hung in there.”
    In all Brown struck out 11 batters, gave up five hits, five runs and four walks. He’d add a double, an RBI and two runs scored on offense as well.
    Portal (2-6) hits the road this evening to face Savannah Christian at 5:00.