DURAND — Elmwood/Plum City took Durand-Arkansaw to the wire, but the Panthers scratched a run across in the sixth to win 3-2 Thursday.

“All-around tonight I’m really proud of the guys,” Head Coach Cory Brathall said. “We kind of had a stinker on Tuesday, and then for them to bounce back and play a good ball game, it’s fun.”

The game started in a peculiar fashion, with a four-pitch walk getting a Panther baserunner aboard. An errant pickoff got the runner to third and a wild pitch scored him before Durand-Arkansaw’s second batter had even concluded his at-bat. The Panthers then loaded up the bases, but a swift double play got EPC out of the jam in the bottom of the first.

In the third, another errant pickoff moved a runner to third. Pitcher Hudson Hewitt was getting guys to take off on his pickoff move, but the connection at first just was not quite there. Later in the inning, Hewitt had a runner stranded off of first with a pickoff, getting him out in the pickle, but the runner on third scored for a 2-0 lead.

EPC got one run in the fourth after freshman Caleb Kopp smacked a double to drive in Robbie Duffy. The Wolves tied it in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from senior Lucas Glaus with the bases loaded.

Hewitt’s day on the mound was finished with five and a third innings pitched.

“The big thing for him is getting ahead. I mean that’s any pitching, but he’s really, really tough to hit when he’s ahead in the count,” Brathall said. “When he starts getting down he starts getting predictable because he can throw three pitches for strikes. That’s not very common for small school high school kids.”

Lucas Glaus took to the mound with an inherited runner and could not stop him from scoring. EPC could not plate the tying run in the seventh and lost 3-2.

The lower third of the batting order is one that can give EPC a major leg up over other teams. Kopp drove in the run with a double in his first varsity game as a freshman, Teigen Bauer reached base twice and, a bit earlier in the order, senior Sean Sagini had a pair of hits.

“It’s really important for those guys to have good at-bats, get on base for the top of the order,” Brathall said.

With a competitive game under their belts, Brathall is ready to see his team make the next step toward being a winning program.

“Kind of that killer instinct,” Brathall said. “It’s great, it’s a nice little story, feel good about yourself. You played a decent ball game, but now let’s go win some ball games. As a program that hasn’t won a lot the last few years, learning how to win.”

Brathall wants his players to live for the moment, hoping they get the crucial at-bats, step on the mound to seal games and get the ball hit to them with the game on the line.

The Wolves turned around with a 7-1 win over Webster to close the week, moving to 1-2 on the year. Glaus pitched all seven innings in the win.