The 2026 season wasn’t exactly what the Portal Panther baseball team had hoped for. The Panthers finished 6-17 overall and 6-8 in region play.

The good news for head coach Brantley Spence is he will return some key members from this year’s team, including Nicholas Newkirk, who had a solid season on the mound while batting .350 with a 1.115 OPS.

“Newk has been a consistent voice of leadership both on and off the field this season,” Spence said. “He works to keep this very young team focused on the goals at hand. He has shown up in big spots at the plate. He has had big days against some good teams, most notably when he went 2-3 with a grand slam and the walk-off single against Bryan County.

"I worked on getting stronger over the off season in the weight room which helped me hit my first home run,” Newkirk said. “I have also have been working on my pitching, trying to find more ways to help our team be successful.

“In order to do some really great things next season we need to hit the off-season hard and work on growing up more on and off the field.”