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The Panthers will be glad to not play Foothill the rest of the season.

With a midweek bye in the Big 5, McKinleyville traveled to play the Cougars in non-conference action on Wednesday and fell 7-3.

The loss was just the fourth of the season for the Panthers, but two of those have come against Foothill, including a 5-4 loss in nine innings in early April.

“We just came out a little slow,” McKinleyville head coach Mike Dobrec said. “And they took advantage of what we gave them.”

The visitors trailed 3-0 going into the fifth inning, but battled back to tie things up with three runs in the top half of the inning.

The home team, however, responded with four runs in their half of the inning and held on down the stretch for the victory.

The Panthers dropped to 14-4, while the Cougars improved to 10-11.

Kolbey Stolpe and Pat Wilson provided some power at the plate for the Panthers.

Stolpe finished the game 2-for-3 with a triple, while Wilson was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double and drove in three runs.

Riles Egbert and Tate Saso each also had a base hit in the loss.

Rhythm Green got the start on the mound for McKinleyville and pitched four innings, allowing four runs.

Joe Tanno and Blake Santos each threw an inning in relief.

All four of the Cougars’ runs in the fifth came off McKinleyville errors.

The Panthers will try to get back to winning ways when they host Fortuna in a Big 5 doubleheader on Saturday, with game one set for 11 a.m.

They remain in the thick of the chase for this year’s championship, along with conference leaders Del Norte.

The Panthers are 5-1 in the Big 5, while the Warriors are now 7-1 after a 14-0 win over Arcata on Wednesday.

The two conference frontrunners will play a doubleheader against each other in Crescent City as week from Saturday.

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