The Pinnacle Panther baseball squad was back on the diamond on Wednesday when they started the season against Altamont at home. The Longhorns used a nine-run fifth inning to close out the Panthers 16-0 in five.

The Panthers played flawless baseball, not committing an error in the game. Altamont was almost unhittable as Pinnacle was able to collect only three hits in the contest off the bats of Joey Howell, Dominick Vigil, and AJ Jimenez, all of whom went 1-2 in the contest.

Altamont put up a pair of runs in the first inning and one run in each of the second and third. In the fourth, they added a trio of runs, getting the score to 7-0, but it was the nine-run fifth that put the game out of reach for Pinnacle.

Brody Howell got the start on the mound for the Panthers, going 3.1 innings, surrendering four runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out four. Joey Howell entered the contest, putting in one inning of work, giving up nine earned runs on six hits, and striking out one. Bryson Shumway put in some work as well, going 2/3 of an inning and giving up three runs on three hits and striking out one.

The Panthers will be back on the diamond on Friday when they travel to take on the Green River Pirates.

Game time in Green River is set for 3:00 p.m.