Hitting has been a running theme of late for Plano East, as they dropped their fifth straight contest, this time 3-0 to Wylie in a seeding game at the Plano Senior ballpark Friday.

After a 6-1 loss to Allen on Tuesday, the Panthers noted they had to hit the ball better in order to win.

However, as the Panthers worked their way into the fourth spot in District 9-5A, Wylie pitcher Ryan Craighead allowed only two hits on the night.

“The bottom line is that if we don’t hit we won’t win,” said Travis Collins, East head coach. “I think we are disappointed with the outcome, but we had good energy in the dugout. We weren’t moping around and pouting, but we have got to get things right and start hitting the ball.”

East senior Justin Snider took the first pitch of the game off his back, and then stole second base to move into scoring position early.

But the next three batters were unable to bring Snider in, stranding him on third base with a pop-out, a ground out and an inning-ending strike out. In the bottom half of the inning, Wylie posted five consecutive singles to score all three of their runs.

Leadoff batter Wade Vennett started the string and scored on a single by Austin Atwell. Atwell’s single put runners on first and third, and Cameron Rice singled in Daniel Jordan to put Wylie up, 2-0.

First baseman Jake Feckley singled through the right side of the infield to score Atwell before East senior pitcher Mark Roberson finally got a grasp on things.

Roberson forced a fly out to right field, and struck out the last two batters of the inning. East headed into the top of the second with plenty of baseball to play, trailing by only three runs.

“Mark only allowed one hit for the rest of the game,” Collins said. “Aside from the fact that they got a couple of hits in that first inning, we were still in it. But again we just didn’t hit the ball.”

In the second, the Panthers got their first hit of the night with a two-out single from sophomore Conner Zmolik. That was quickly washed away with an infield pop-up to the shortstop to end the inning.

Wylie got a two-out single in the bottom half, but the Pirates couldn’t get anything going against Roberson for the remainder of the night.

The senior pitcher didn’t allow a runner to pass second base after the first inning, and struck out six on the night to put forth a solid effort.

However, the lack of run support cost the Panthers dearly.

In the top of the seventh, senior Adam Hummes drove a double to right center field with a solid shot. That was followed by a hot line drive down the first base line which was snagged by Feckley, who was playing only his third game at first.

Zmolik pounced on a fastball down the middle of the plate, but the line drive went right to Wylie’s shortstop to end the game.

“We finally started to get some good contact there in the seventh inning,” Collins said. “But they were right at people, and by that time it was too late.”

The loss puts the Panthers up against Rowlett, the undefeated District 10-5A champions, in the bi-district round. The teams plan to play a three-game series next Friday and Saturday, but times and locations have yet to be determined.

Still, with a five-game losing streak on the Panthers’ plate, they know things must change in order to keep that streak from extending, and ultimately ending their season.

“We’ve got a week to fix this,” Collins said. “We have to just keep being positive with this group and make sure everybody is right mentally.

“Rowlett is a good team all over and if we keep hitting the way we’ve been hitting, things will be over pretty quick. I don’t want to see that happen with this bunch because they are a good group of guys who have been great to coach. But we’ve got to hit the ball.”