The Dallas County Hornets, who were shutout by Demopolis on Tuesday night, got their offense back on track in a 18-2 win against the Southside Panthers on Wednesday afternoon.

It was a home game for Southside, but the game was played at Dallas County High School in Plantersville due to scheduling conflicts.

The first pitch wasn’t thrown until 5:15 p.m., 45 minutes after the scheduled start time, but the late start didn’t have much of an effect since the game was ended after the fourth inning.

The Panthers were down to their final out against the Dallas County Hornets, but a late single and a walk left them with an opportunity to extend the game.

Hornets starting pitcher Cade Whitaker had pitched a strong three and two-thirds innings, but needed some help to get the final out.

Whitaker had a strong game for the Hornets on the mound and at the plate.

“I felt confident today,” Whitaker said. “We have a good defense and we were hitting the ball to get a good lead.”

He only allowed two runs in three and two-thirds innings of work and struck out four batters. At the dish, he went two-for-two with two doubles and three RBI’s.

“He’s been our No. 2 all year long,” Dallas County head coach Mark Rouleau said. “He throws good strikes and he’s always around the zone.”

Rouleau finally pulled his starter, Cade Whitaker, and brought in Steven Smith to face the Panther’s cleanup hitter Keterius Jones.

Smith made the move from third base to the mound with runners on first and third.

A routine fly ball to right field left the Panthers runners stranded and secured the win.

The game ended early because of Dallas County’s ability to take advantage of Southside’s defensive miscues.

Baserunners capitalized on Southside’s defensive errors throughout the game. The Hornets scored four runs on passed balls and two runs on fielding errors.

Timely hitting brought in the other 12 runs for Dallas County.

Dallas County’s Andre Smith and Hunter Skinner also had three RBI’s each in the game.

“[Tuesday] was just a bad day,” Rouleau said. “I preach to these guys every day you have to have a short memory. Once they got those first few runs, they knew what they were doing and went after the win.”

The Panthers were only able to stay close with the Hornets in the first inning.

Southside’s leadoff hitter Jaylen Colvin turned a walk into two stolen bases and scored on an errant throw to third. Later in the inning, clean-up hitter Keterius Jones drove in a run on a ground ball to first.

After the first inning, Southside’s chances to score were limited.

The Panthers were able to get a runner on in the bottom of the third inning, but he was picked off trying to steal second by Dallas County catcher DeMarckus Smiley to end the inning.

After getting shutout in a two-hit performance against Demopolis the day before, the Hornets offensive surge lit up the dugout and helped the re-focus the team.