By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

One thing is for certain this season with Mehlville Senior High School’s baseball team, the Panthers know how to hit the ball.

But to be successful this season, the Pan-thers are going to need solid performances from their pitching staff.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case last Thursday as Mehlville stumbled in its season opener at Northwest-House Springs 10-9.

“Defensively we had four errors early in the game and pitching wise, we walked 10 batters,” Mehlville Head Coach Jim Kern told the Call. “It’s hard to win a game with problems like that. Our pitchers have got to throw strikes and defensively we have to make plays.”

Mehlville’s Steve Braun went 2-3 at the plate as he drove in a team-high four runs.

One of Braun’s hits was a double, while the other was a home run shot. The sophomore shortstop scored three times for the Panthers and also had one walk.

“Steve’s pretty much the cornerstone for us defensively,” Kern said. “Offensively this year he feels a lot more comfortable at the plate.”

Senior first baseman Tyler Johnson also had a nice game at the plate as he went 2-3 with one double. Johnson also scored one run for the Panthers in the losing effort.”

“Defensively, Tyler will do just about anything he can to make the play,” Kern said. “He’s been hitting the ball hard and had two really nice hits against Northwest.”

The Panthers return to action this Friday as they travel to Fox for their first Suburban West Conference game of the 2003 season.

“Fox is always a good hitting team,” Kern said. “We’ve got to do the little things right in order to win. I feel good about our chances if we can just get ahead in the pitch count and throw strikes.”

The Fox game is slated for a 4 p.m. start.