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Mitri Krishna

Sophomore JJ Nei (4) walks into the dugout.

Entering the game with an 8-10 record, head coach Mike Pangborn said the varsity baseball team went into their last Eastern Kansas League game of the year against Blue Valley North looking for a win.

The Huskies started off hot and found themselves leading 5-0 after three innings. Pangborn said the team had a great mindset at the plate and held the Mustangs quiet with strong pitching and defense.

“We had good plate discipline and some really good approaches and plus counts. Our defense has also been playing really well recently and [Easton] Wasinger pitched really well,” Pangborn said.

Sophomore Easton Wasinger started the game on the mound for the Huskies and pitched five innings, giving up one run. He attributed his strong performance to his ability to mix in offspeed pitches.

“My offspeed was working really well tonight and I was able to keep them off balance,” Wasinger said.

After a three-run homerun for the Mustangs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Huskies were leading by one run heading into the seventh inning. Wasinger said the team maintained their intensity from the beginning of the game to hold on to the lead.

“We stayed in the game the whole entire time energy wise and we knew we weren’t going to give that game up and knew we were going to come out with a win,” Wasinger said.

With the game being tight down the stretch, Pangborn said he told the team to keep competing and finish the game strong.

“[I told them] to just keep competing. We’re pretty young across the board so the only experience we have at the varsity level is this year,” Pangborn said.

Playing against their rival Mustangs, Pangborn said it was a fun game for the Huskies to win.

“It’s pretty cool to see them beat [North]. That was definitely a fun one, best of the year so far,” Pangborn said.

With the win, the Huskies improved their record to 9-10. They will face Lee’s Summit North on May 13 in their final regular season game of the year.