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A long gap between games didn’t seem to have any ill effects on the Panthers.

On Friday afternoon, McKinleyville played for the first time in two weeks, welcoming Eagle Point to the North Coast for a baseball doubleheader and winning both games.

The Panthers took game one 3-2 on a walk-off base hit by Bode Reininger, and they followed that with a 7-4 victory in game two, improving to 9-1.

While the rest of the Big 5 schools will open conference play on Saturday, McKinleyville will have an opening-weekend bye before kicking off their conference campaign at home against Fortuna on Wednesday.

And they will carry some momentum and plenty of confidence into the Big 5 after an impressive opening month, including Friday’s doubleheader sweep.

“They were both competitive games,” McKinleyville head coach Mike Dobrec said. “It was good to get back on the field before league.”

Reininger had a particularly good day for the home team.

The Mack junior drove in his team’s opening run in the first inning of game one and would add a second RBI to win the game in the seventh.

After the Eagles had tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the seventh, Tate Saso drew a walk in the bottom of the inning, before Eagle Point intentionally walked Hunter Carper.

Reininger then singled to score Saso for the walk-off victory.

In addition to scoring the winning run, Saso also got the win on the mound in relief of starter Joe Tanno, pitching the final inning and allowing three hits while striking out two.

Tanno pitched well, allowing just four hits and four walks in six innings and striking out five.

At the plate, Reininger finished 2-for-4 with the two RBIs, while Rhythm Green also had a good game, finishing 2-for-3 with a double.

Blake Santos also was 2-for-3 and Tanno added an RBI.

Carper pitched a complete game for the win in game two.

The standout junior gave up six hits and struck out eight.

Reininger continued to hit the ball well in that game, finishing 2-for-4 with two more RBIs, while Saso also was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

The dangerous Carper added a double and was intentionally walked twice, while Jake Brunner finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and Tanno was 1-for-2 with an RBI.

Pat Wilson also had an RBI in the win.

“We played well,” Dobrec said. “After a couple of weeks off we made some errors, but that’s going to happen with the time off.

“We came out a little slow, but we got going. The pitching was good and we had timely hits to win the games.”

In addition to Reininger’s big day, Dobrec also praised the play of Brunner behind the plate, as well as Tanno and Carper on the hill.

With the two losses, the Eagles dropped to 1-6.

The Panthers will now turn their attention to next week’s conference opener at home against Fortuna on Wednesday.

McKinleyville follows that with a pivotal doubleheader at home against Eureka a week from Saturday.