Mistakes nearly cost Highland on Wednesday as a five-run lead evaporated over the final two innings of play. But when the Pekin Panthers made mistakes of their own, the Huskies were able to capitalize, walking off with an 11-10 victory. 

After scoring four times in the seventh to grab a one-run lead, Pekin hit two batters to put the tying and winning runs on base with one out in the bottom half. Luke Miller’s single scored Connor Grintead to tie the game, bringing Trevor McFarland to the plate. 

McFarland looked at head coach Seth Milledge and knew what his job was. 

“We've been practicing bunting and outside pitching for weeks now,” McFarland said. “And I'm sure they weren't expecting a two-hole hitter to bunt like that.”

With one out, Milledge wasn’t going to send Bryce Thompson from third base unless the situation was right. 

“I just wanted to put a little pressure on them and just see if they could make the right play with it,” Milledge said. “When he started looking for Trevor to tag him, I sent Bryce. They made it close there, but we were fortunate to be safe there for sure.”

The game actually began eight days earlier before it was suspended in the fourth inning due to rain with the Huskies ahead 9-4. 

McFarland drove in three runs with a double and triple on June 22, and added a fourth RBI with his walk-off bunt single as the game was completed on June 30. 

Logan Bonebrake had two hits and drove in three runs in the first two innings as Highland built its initial lead. 

“Obviously it played a key role tonight,” Milledge said about the fast start. “Because we didn't really come out and do ourselves any favors.

But just being able to do that against their one and two, they’re both very good pitchers.”

The Huskies scored five off of Chase Stansberry during the first two innings, and added four more in the third inning, two of which were charged to Brady Latcham. Latcham had retired five straight batters before he hit the next two and the back-to-back singles gave Highland the win. 

“It was nice to see we're scoring and doing what we need to do, putting some pressure on them.

“These are the types of games we're gonna have to have going into July here, so it's nice to come out on top and show that we can do that against a really good Pekin team that was right there in the conference race with us and Mediapolis.”

Ethan Paisley struck out 11 batters in 5 and 1-3 innings of relief. He came in during the second inning and had success against the Pekin lineup until late in the sixth. 

Miller had two hits, two walks and two steals. He scored three runs for the Huskies. 

Highland led 9-5 with two outs in the sixth when a walk, a double and a single put two runs on the scoreboard and gave the Panthers a little momentum. 

Pekin scored four runs on three hits and an error in the final inning. 

“All of us had our heads down after they took that lead in the seventh,” Thompson said. “And I even thought to myself, ‘well there goes another one.’ But at the end of the day, the game’s not over until it’s over. We found a way and that’s all that matters.”