Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Monday’s game at McKinleyville.

By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers moved into a tie with Del Norte for the Big 5 lead in baseball after taking care of business against Fortuna on Monday afternoon.

The Panthers welcomed the Huskies to McKinleyville High for a make-up game that had been pushed back from Saturday because of the weather and won 14-4 in five innings.

With the victory, the Panthers improved to 7-1 in conference and into a tie with the Warriors with four games remaining each, including a huge doubleheader between the two schools in Crescent City on Saturday.

If both schools win their respective games on Wednesday — the Panthers host Eureka and the Warriors host Fortuna — then a Saturday sweep for either would clinch the title, or a split would send the race for the championship down to the final day of the regular season on Wednesday of next week.

Seven different McKinleyville players hit successfully in Monday’s win, led by senior catcher Riles Egbert, who finished 3-for-3 with three doubles and also had an RBI.

“They came out and swung the bats good,” McKinleyville head coach Mike Dobrec said of his players. “Collectively as a team, hopefully we’re catching our stride. We still have a lot to play for, but I think it was a good team win.”

Sophomore Rhythm Green got the win on the mound, throwing 3.1 innings and giving up five hits while striking out five.

Junior Blake Santos pitched the final 1.2 innings to close out the game and struck out two.

Santos took over with runners at second and third and got out of the jam.

“That was pretty impressive on his part,” Dobrec said.

The hard-hitting Bryce Sargent also had a big day in the win and finished 2-for-2 with a home run and a triple and three RBIs, as he continues to thrive in his final season of high school ball.

Junior Pat Wilson also had a home run for McKinleyville, while Joe Forbes was 2-for-2 with an RBI and Kolbe Stolpe was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Joe Tanno also had a base hit and an RBI, while Santos had a base hit and Bode Reininger drove in a pair of runs.

The Panthers scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings before ending the game early with five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

They are now 16-4 overall.

Despite dropping to 0-9 in the Big 5, there were some bright spots for the Huskies.

Senior Blayne Barrote took the mound for the first time in his varsity high school career and didn’t back down from the challenge of facing the most dangerous lineup in the H-DNL.

“(He) kept us in the game,” Fortuna head coach Andy Petersen said of Barrote, who also had a base hit and scored one of his team’s runs.

Fellow senior Mariqus Ludd continued to impress and added two hits and an RBI.

Ludd has been a consistent bright spot for his team all spring.

Freshman Luke Powell, who was recently called up to the varsity squad after the JV season ended, also impressed and has fitted in nicely to the lineup while playing some solid first base,

“(He) has stabilized the bottom of the lineup,” Petersen said of the young player.

Next up, on Wednesday, the Panthers will host Eureka in what will be an emotional senior day, while the Huskies travel to play Del Norte.