The Wallkill Panthers don’t feel as though they’ve played their best baseball yet.

That could be a scary thought, considering they’ve been unbeaten through their first eight games of the season.

That didn’t change on April 23 when Kyle DeGroat threw six innings of no-hit ball in the Panthers’ 9-1 win over the Washingtonville Wizards at Wallkill Senior High School.

“I just felt good from the start,” said DeGroat, who only allowed one base runner, a two-out walk to Connor Beyer in the sixth inning, while striking out 14. “I felt good all day, stretching. I felt like my body was prepped for the start, and again, the nice weather helps. Just from the first pitch in the bullpen, it felt great from the start and just took off from there.”

And it took off immediately, as DeGroat struck out the first eight batters of the game. Beyer, the Wizards’ No. 9 hitter, was the only batter DeGroat didn’t strike out and was the first to put the ball in play.
He hit a pop-up behind second base that was tracked down by J.J. Detz to end the inning.

He returned to form in the fourth inning, striking out the side, and in the fifth, a pair of weak ground balls surrounded an Omar Puello strikeout.

“I was keeping their guys honest with my fastball,” DeGroat said. “I was moving the fastball around the strike zone and making it tough for the guys to sit on a pitch and drive one.”

He struck out the first two batters to start the sixth inning before he walked Beyer with two outs, prompting a visit from Wallkill coach T.D. Mills.

At that point, DeGroat was nearing 80 pitches, and Mills wanted to know if he wanted to continue.
He did.

“I wanted to finish my business,” DeGroat said. “I felt confident in myself to get the last guy.”

The last guy was leadoff hitter Henry Faber, who put the ball in play for the first time, hitting a weak grounder at third for the final out, ending DeGroat’s day.

“Kyle hit his spots and did his job,” Mills said. “He actually had a little giddy-up today. He got it to 97 a couple of times, and you could tell when he was out there. He had a little extra pop today, and his curveball was phenomenal.”

The offense, however, despite scoring nine runs, could have been better. The Panthers scored in every inning except the second, but left a total of 12 men on base and stranded the bases loaded three times.

“We’ve got to do a better job offensively,” Mills said. “I know it’s 9-1, but this is the third, fourth or fifth game in a row where we’re leaving too many guys on base or the bases loaded.”

Spencer Freer was one player who kept finding his way around the bases. He walked three times and came around to score all three times.

Washingtonville pitcher Brennan Tesseyman walked him to start the game and came around to score on an error by second baseman Cian Cordiero. He then walked and scored in the third inning when Mason Franklin walked.

“We take what they can give us,” Freer said. “That’s what good teams do. They capitalize on stuff they give us, and I’ve been seeing the ball well lately. I’m just trying to continue to help the team and get on base.”

Mike Daley hit a sacrifice fly and Niko Mandich walked to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead. The Panthers added three more in the fourth inning, getting RBI singles from Ryan Rauschenbach and Franklin, who added an RBI single in the fifth. Ryan Mayer drove home a run with a walk in the seventh. However, two force plays at the plate and a line out ended the threat.

The Wizards got their first hit in the seventh inning off Franklin when Jason Vermette doubled to lead off the inning. He came around on a base hit by Charlie Garguilo. Franklin struck out three to end the inning.

“Mason’s going to be good,” Mills said. “He knows what he’s doing out there.”

The Panthers finished the week with a 16-7 win over the New Paltz Huguenots. They opened the week with a 5-3 win over the Rondout Valley Ganders on April 22.

“We haven’t played our best baseball yet and we’re still undefeated,” Freer said. “I think we have a good shot at really being good again. We’ve got to clean some stuff up. We left too many runners in scoring position, but I think once everything starts clicking, we’ll start swinging the bat more.”