Carson McWhorter
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Derrick Webb

Derrick is SOSA's chief content coordinator and has worked for the Chillicothe Gazette, the Portsmouth Daily Times and Eleven Warriors. He's a 15-time award-winning journalist, a self-proclaimed baseball purist, a suffering Bengals fan and has never met a stranger.

McWhorter, Southeastern blank Eastern Meigs, clinch first-ever Elite 8 trip

The Panthers are one win from Akron.

Derrick Webb, Managing Editor

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

LANCASTER — Before this season began, Southeastern coach Ron Free knew his team had the pieces to be special.

But having the pieces and putting them together are two separate things.

Admittedly, it took some time for the Panthers to gel. But once they did, all bets were off.

That happened near the beginning of May and since, they’ve won eight straight — the last three victories coming over their district’s top three seeds in back-to-back-to-back fashion.

On Wednesday, they continued to author new chapters in their school’s history books with a dominant 6-0 win over Reedsville Eastern in a Division VI regional semifinal at Beavers Field.

At this point, as Free puts it, Southeastern is playing with “house money.”

“I knew we had the pieces but I didn’t know how long it was going to take to blend them,” Free said. “The hitting piece was the big piece and we’ve gotten hot at the right time. When you get speed on the base paths and timely hitting, like we did today, you’re hard to beat. 

Wednesday’s win was brought to you courtesy of junior flamethrower Carson McWhorter.

The Panthers’ ace was as efficient as ever, needing just 87 pitches to send his team into the Elite 8. McWhorter surrendered just four hits and struck out seven hitters.

“He’s so fun to call pitches for,” Free said. “He throws everything for strikes and he executes. I have the ability to call what I want when I want because he can throw it. When you have that, it’s pretty dangerous. He’s a junior on top of it all. He’s a special piece.”

It didn’t take long for Southeastern (16-10) to find the scoreboard, either.

The Panthers immediately gave McWhorter run support with an RBI single from Coleton Baxter that scored Gage Cheadle in the top of the first inning.

In the second, they played add-on and in a big way.

Lane Williams was hit by a pitch with two outs before stealing second base. He’d come around to score on an RBI double from Cheadle to make it 2-0. Baxter followed with an RBI double for a three-run lead and Brayden Burns traded places with him to cap off a three-run inning for a 4-0 lead.

“I told them right before we went out to trust their hands,” Free said. “I knew we’d see a lot of offspeed stuff. They did that and they did it well. Our two-strike approach was outstanding. We pulled the ball tonight a little, too. We were amped up. We are just squaring the baseball up right now.”

Eastern (22-7) threatened to score in the bottom half of the fourth, placing runners on first and second without an out. But CJ Huff turned a 5-3 double play that ended the threat and, essentially, took the wind out of the Eagles’ wings.

“That was the surge. It was coming and we shut it down,” Free said. “But Carson hit a spot we wanted him to hit. When you sit and hear me call out people’s names, if we hit a spot, that’s usually what direction the ball is going. It’s so fun to do that. We’re just having fun right now.”

In the fifth and seventh innings, Southeastern purchased insurance. In the fifth, Landon Brown singled in McWhorter, who had doubled earlier in the frame. And, in the seventh, McWhorter put a cap on the night with an RBI double to score Drew Leach.

Southeastern’s Drew Leach celebrates an RBI double during the Panthers’ win over Reedsville Eastern.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA

Statistically, four Panthers had two hits.

Leach was 2-for-4 with a double and a run, Baxter went 2-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBIs, Cheadle finished 2-for-4 with with two doubles and an RBI, and McWhorter helped his own cause with a 2-for-4 effort alongside two doubles, a run and an RBI.

Ayden Willhelm, Alex Collins, Caleb Abner and Rohwan Gilmore were responsible for the Eagles’ four hits.

While Eastern sees its season come to a close, the Panthers will look towards the program’s first-ever regional championship game, where they’ll take on Berlin Hiland.

That contest will be at 6 p.m., Thursday at Beavers Field.

“We’re here to win,” Free said. “We’re playing with house money. We’re going to throw everything we have at it. Whatever happens, happens.”

SPONSORED BY NEIL COLEMAN INSURANCE

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