Gibson, Parker homer in Eagles' 11-1 win

South Putnam's baseball squad broke a six game losing skid Friday night after an eight-run fifth inning catapulted the Eagles to an 11-1 win over Riverton Parke in five innings.

The hosts started off the game with a run in the first inning. The Eagles notched three straight singles before Cody Heller's sac fly drove in Rob Gibson for the 1-0 lead.

South added a second run in the third inning through Gibson, who reached on a single and stole second before being driven in by an Aaron Parker single.

Davey Anstead cut the lead in half with a lead-off home run for the Panthers in the top half of the fourth inning before the lead was restored by Justin Bumgardner, who singled in Nick Scott in the bottom half of the inning.

South Putnam then routed the visitors with an emphatic eight-spot in the bottom of the fifth, started off when Sawyer Arnold reached on an error to lead off the inning and Parker hit a two-run homer to right field for a 5-1 Eagle advantage.

Heller doubled and pinch-runner Blake Doolin stole third before being knocked in by Scott. Wyatt Nees reached on an error, Joe Waters walked and Bumgardner singled in two more before Gibson sealed the win with a three-run homer to left field.

South Putnam head coach Ryan Gilman said afterwards that getting contact on the offensive side made a difference Friday night.

"We did a better job of putting the ball in play. We made the plays that we needed to make. We cut down on the errors and we were putting the ball in play," Gilman said.

"Going into the fifth inning, I felt we were on the edge of being able to push a couple more runs across. I wasn't expecting eight that last inning, but we'll take it."

"Anytime you can put multiple runs together it's a good thing. Not striking out gives you a chance to have a bigger inning. A lot of times, we were striking out and preventing the big inning," Gilman added.

Gilman said that getting the win would help the squad build momentum.

"We were in a rough spot, being on a six game slide, so it's nice to come out and play well. We didn't make errors, didn't strike out and put the ball in play," Gilman said.

"Good things happen when you start to do that."

At South Putnam

Riverton Parke 000 10 -- 1 3 2

South Putnam 101 18 -- 11 15 3

WP -- Hammond

LP -- Anstead

HR -- Anstead (RP), Parker, Gibson (SP)

Next game -- South Putnam travels to Tri-West next Monday.