Bainbridge kicked off its busiest week of the season Monday with a 16-2 win over the Americus-Sumter Panthers (6-14, 6-12 Region) in five innings.

The victory fell on senior night, where Perry Waddell, Ty Varnum, Russell Wheeler and Cayden McQuaig were honored.

Pitcher McQuaig handled all five innings on the mound, allowing two hits, two runs and striking out four Panthers.

Will Kelley was dynamite at the plate, going 3-for-4, scoring two runs and racking up six RBIs. Keith Lyle was 3-for-3 with four runs and an RBI, and Clark Wiggins also had a big day going 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

The game started out dicey for the Bearcats as the Panthers jumped on a quick 2-run lead in the first. Bainbridge responded with a run of its own from Lyle and entered the second inning looking at a 2-1 score.

Things only got better from there. Bainbridge added 10 runs to the board in the bottom of the second to hurry to an 11-2 lead. The Bearcats piled on two more runs in the bottom of the third. Kelley doubled, bringing home Lyle to start the inning. That was followed by a double from Connor Strickland, plating Kelley.

Bainbridge added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Lyle kicked things off with a single, bringing home Inlow. That was followed up by Kelley’s double, plating Caleb Boutwell to make the score 16-2.

Americus-Sumter then struck out, grounded out and flied out to end the game early.

The Bearcats (17-6, 12-5 Region) are currently in third place in Region 1-AAAA behind Thomas County Central (18-0) and Cairo (15-3), as of Tuesday afternoon.

After Bainbridge’s game with Cairo on Tuesday, the Bearcats have the opportunity to win on Wednesday against Albany and Friday against Cook to tie for second in Region 1-AAAA with the Syrupmakers. The first tiebreaker is runs scored.

“You always want to bend the bar and make your mark,” coach Brian McCorkle said. “The biggest thing for us is the playoffs. In order to reach that goal, we have to set that win mark. We are just taking them one at time and we’ll go from there.”