Corn Dogs Beat Panthers 13-3

By Noel Fary

Now 12-4 on the season, the Lake County Corn Dogs dominated the Indiana Panthers in a 13-3 victory on Friday, where there was no shortage of offense or reliable pitching in a bounce back game at home.

Reliable starter Ryan Troxel took the mound for the Corn Dogs and wasted no time painting around the entire strike zone. Already leading the team in strikeouts, Troxel added six more to his to his season total.

Check out the box score from the game.

Troxel finished his four-inning outing with two hits, two walks and only one run allowed.

Following a game in which they were no-hit by the Miracle on Thursday, the Corn Dogs returned to their winning ways, scoring at least one run in all but two innings.

The Corn Dogs jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, courtesy of a Danny Puplava rocket that squeezed in a gap. Macron Player of the Game Scott Hansen followed with a base-clearing triple.

Hansen finished the night 3-4, with two triples, two RBIs and four runs scored.

From the fifth inning on, the Corn Dogs did not necessarily rely on base hits to put runners on and score, as the Panthers struggled to find the strike zone and gave up plenty of walks. Manager Justin Huisman said the team approached those at bats a bit differently.

“We had a lot of hits early on when the starter was throwing pretty decent and then had a lot of hits later,” Huisman said. “In those situations you don’t want to be too aggressive when you don’t need to be.”

Once again, solid relief pitching from Gabe Stout, Austin Pizer and Sean Kasper allowed the Corn Dogs to take a big lead and hold, never losing sight of a big victory.

In a night where some of the usual starters did not take the field for the Corn Dogs, the team looked as dominant as ever. Huisman believes this team has plenty of reliable players to go around.

“Since we’re pretty deep talent wise, it’s nice,” Huisman said. “No matter who I put out there we’ve got a pretty good line up.”

The Corn Dogs play Saturday in Crown Point in a return match against the Panthers. First pitch is at 7 p.m.

Photo by Jim Masters