Panthers enter final week of regular season at 12-3

A 4-1 stretch last week saw the Glencoe-Silver Lake baseball team up its record to 12-3 on the spring, with the regular season already drawing to a close this week.
“I’m one thankful coach,” coach Dean Schwirtz said.
Schwirtz had many reasons to be thankful during this abbreviated, yet successful season.
As the postseason already nears, his team is playing some dandy baseball – and showing few, if any ills from a packed-in schedule.
“I’ve been very pleased with the job our pitchers have done up to this point with the number of games that we have had is short period time,” Schwirtz said. “We currently have almost a 2-to-1 ratio of strikeouts to walks. This was a goal at the beginning of the season.”
The Panthers allowed just one run scored total over its four wins last week, with the team sweeping a doubleheader from Watertown-Mayer by a combined score of 7-0 on Tuesday, May 8, defeating Mayer Lutheran 9-1 on Friday, May 11, and then splitting a doubleheader with Dassel-Cokato at St. John’s University on Saturday, May 12.
Starting pitcher Korey Johnson allowed just one hit over five innings, striking out three and walking three, as GSL blanked the Royals 6-0 in Game One of last Tuesday’s doubleheader. Joe Knudten tossed a perfect sixth inning to finish the game.
Bennett and Spencer Lepel each drove in two runs, with Bennett also scoring once in the win. Chandler Glaeser went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and one RBI. Johnson also scored twice.
In Game Two, Tyler Siewert drove home Gabe Roepke with the only run of the contest as the hosts won 1-0 on a one-hit, seven-strikeout complete-game effort by Glaeser. Roepke had two hits for the Panthers.
Brett Baumgarten got the start against Mayer Lutheran and spun a two-hit, four-walk, four-strikeout gem at the Crusaders. He allowed just one earned run, that coming in the fifth inning.
By that point, GSL already had a five-run lead as the hosts went on to win by eight runs on the day. Eight different Panthers logged an RBI, with eight separate GSL runners crossing home plate in the balanced offensive flurry. Bennett Lepel and Roepke had two hits apiece, with Lepel scoring two runs.
“At the plate I really like the aggressive approach we have taken into games this year,” Schwirtz said. “We currently have seven players with double-digit hits and five players with double-digit RBIs.”
The Panthers’ lone loss of the week came in Game One against the Chargers in Collegeville. D-C shutout GSL 3-0, with Roepke, Spencer Lepel and Carsen Streich collecting one hit apiece for the entirety of the Panther offense.
Johnson took the hard-luck loss despite allowing just two hits, two walks and one earned run in a complete-game effort; he struck out five batters in the game.
The tables were turned in Game Two as GSL won 7-0 as Johnson went 3-for-4 with three RBI. Dane Schwirtz went 3-for-3 with one RBI and two runs scored in the victory.
Glaeser earned his second pitching win of the week, going all six innings with just two hits and one walk charged with two strikeouts.
“We have six different pitchers that have a win for us. I don’t know if we have every had that before,” Schwirtz said. “I give coach Sell the credit for the great job he does with our pitchers.”
GSL hosted New London-Spicer in a doubleheader on Tuesday, after the Chronicle went to press. The Panthers are slated to play a twinbill at Mound Westonka on Thursday, before closing out the regular season at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted on Friday.
Schwirtz noted that, as a frantically paced regular season draws to a close, it has been the Panthers depth and versatility that has helped the team to another winning campaign and given the squad justified hope of continued success in the postseason.
“Another factor that has contributed to our team success is the number of players on our team,” he said. “We have kids that can step in different roles to help our team offensively, defensively and on the bases. With this kind of depth it gives us options and competition that we haven’t have for a couple of years.”