Knoxville 1 Mount Pleasant 3

Saturday June 20, 2009

by Don French

Allowing two first-inning runs was enough to cost Knoxville Saturday afternoon in the Panthers' first game of the Williamsburg Tournament against Mount Pleasant. The Panther bats were kept silent for the entire game, collecting only four hits in a 3-1 loss.

Mount Pleasant took a lead they would never give up in that first inning, when the first two MP hitters singled and later scored on two sacrifice flies. Knoxville scored its lone run in the third when Zach Lenger and Danny Lee laid down back-to-back bunts for base hits. Corey Collins lifted a sac fly to center to score Lenger and draw the black and gold to within a run. But Mount Pleasant pushed across an unearned run in the sixth and the Knoxville bats could not do any more damage.

Kellen Glover pitched an excellent game only to get the loss. Glover went the distance for Knoxville and limited Mount Pleasant to five hits and two earned runs. The righty also gave up two walks and struck out two.

Lee went 2-for-3 to lead Knoxville's hitting effort, with Lenger and Blake McWilliams getting the only other Panther hits.