According to Franklin Regional baseball coach Larry Wayman, baseball is a game of streaks.

The Panthers (12-4, 8-3) snapped a three-game losing streak on Monday with a 20-0 win over Albert Gallatin, and Wayman hopes that the victory will be the start of a long winning streak through the playoffs that will lead his squad to a WPIAL championship.

"We got out of that funk. I was glad to see that. We went 19 innings without scoring. I cannot remember the last time we were shut out in my 15 years at Franklin, let alone two games back-to-back. That was a first," he said.

"Baseball is a lot of slumps, a lot of streaks. That's just baseball. Hopefully, this was our slump, and we'll have our hot streak coming up here in the playoffs."

While talking to his team in the outfield after last week's 5-0 loss at Hempfield Area, Wayman noticed a section championship banner for the Spartans hanging on the right field fence. Two of the section title years for Hempfield Area were 1997 and 2001.

Coincidentally, those were the years Franklin Regional won the WPIAL championship after finishing second in the section behind the Spartans.

Hempfield (9-2) entered the final week of section play in first place and likely will hold on with Franklin Regional and Latrobe (8-2) right behind as the playoff representatives for Section 2-AAAA.

The WPIAL playoffs are scheduled to begin Tuesday.

"I told them, 'As long as we're in the playoffs, anything can happen,'" he said.

The Panthers' losing skid began with a 3-2 loss to Norwin on April 30 and was followed by a 5-0 loss to Hempfield Area Friday and a 1-0 non-section loss to Plum on Saturday.

"We'd get guys on and leave them out there. We were out in front of pitches, flying out. They we started to put the pressure on, and that continued," Wayman said.

"We couldn't get any momentum changed to our side."

Franklin Regional took its frustration out on Albert Gallatin (0-10) with a 20-0 drubbing in four innings Monday. Josh Robinette earned the win for the Panthers. The offensive statistics were overwhelming for the Panthers.

"Everybody played, and everybody hit," Wayman said.

The Panthers now will turn their attention to the postseason where they'll rely on starters Mike Pelekanos, Steve Ferimer, Preston Jones, Robinette and Greg Moore.

And, Wayman said, his hitters will be up to the challenge.

"I just want them to play loose, relax and have fun. We were putting a little pressure on ourselves," he said.

"We'll be fine as long as we relax and have fun out there."

Franklin Regional will wrap up the regular season today, Thursday, at Gateway, at 7 p.m.