Winners of a district baseball championship for the fourth time in the last five years, the Salisbury Panthers banged out 11 hits Wednesday, May 20 as they overcame an early 1-0 deficit to beat Fayette, 9-1 in the Class Two, District Seven championship game played at Estes Field on the campus of Central Methodist University.

Salisbury tallied four runs in the second before putting the contest away with two in the fifth and then three more during the sixth. The victory was the 15th in a row for the Panthers who are ranked fifth in the state in the latest Class 2 polls and now boast an overall mark of 20-2. Salisbury thus advances to the Sectionals Monday as they will next play at Eugene. Claiming the District Eight title, Eugene was a 7-2 winner against Russellville, also on Wednesday.

Salisbury sophomore Caleb Sturm earned the complete-game victory on the mound as he fired seven innings, giving up one run on two hits while striking out eight and walking two.

Fayette put their only tally on the board in the top of the first as Payton Oeth walked, went to second on a bad pickoff throw, advanced to third thanks to a wild pitch and then scored on Parker La Valley’s RBI groundout. The Falcons’ only two hits in the contest came on Sawyer Asbury’s two-out single during the fifth and Oeth’s one-out base knock in the sixth.

Fayette’s lead was short-lived as Salisbury went ahead for good with a four-run explosion in the bottom of the second. Walks to Hayden Ramsey and Jake Peiffer were sandwiched around Gage Clark’s double. The first two runs of that frame came on a pair of wild pitches which preceded a two-run double by Gavin Binder.

In the fifth, the Panthers scored twice on three hits and two walks. Peiffer had an RBI single and Sheldon Binder coaxed a bases-loaded walk. making it 6-1 at the time. Then in the sixth inning, Salisbury put their final three runs on the board courtesy of run-scoring hits by Peiffer and Caleb Sturm along with a bad throw during Peiffer’s infield single.

Eight different Panthers had hits with Peiffer singling three times while Paxton Sanders added a pair of base knocks. Rounding out the bulk of the attack for the Lewis and Clark Conference champions included Gage Clark with three runs scored as Peiffer and Gavin Binder drove home two tallies each.

For the Falcons, the loss was only the second in their last nine games while wrapping up what was perhaps their most successful season ever with a mark of 13-9. Ethan Bean threw the first five innings for the losing side, allowing six runs on eight hits before Easton Fehling came on in the sixth and surrendered three runs on three hits.