Knoxville 0 Boone 11

Wednesday June 3, 2009

by Don French

Wednesday night's Little Hawkeye Conference opener for the Panthers promised to be a tough challenge. The Boone Toreadors came to Knoxville ranked number 5 in Class 3A. Boone promptly showed the Panthers why, scoring five runs in the first inning enroute to an easy 11-0 win.

Despite not breaking onto the scoreboard, Knoxville did nonetheless manage seven hits for the evening and threatened in the second, fourth and sixth innings. But the Panthers simply could not get the big hit when they needed one, and stranded nine baserunners for the night. Left fielder Mike Jacks went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead Knoxville's hitting effort, with Danny Lee and Lance Daugherty both adding two hits apiece.

Eric Jones took the loss for the Panthers, alowing five runs in his three innings of work, while relievers Kellen Glover and Jaime VanderVeer combined to allow six runs over the final four innings.

The Panthers (3-4 overall, 0-1 LHC) will look to break their three-game losing streak on Thursday when they travel to Albia for a varsity double-header and will resume LHC play on Friday when they host the Grinnell Tigers in yet another twinbill.