Knoxville 17 Newton 4

Thursday June 25, 2009

by Don French

After dropping both ends of a doubleheader in Boone the night before, the Panthers took out their frustrations on Newton Thursday evening. Knoxville scored eight runs in the first two innings and never let up, crushing the Cardinals 17-4 in five innings at the Knoxville baseball complex.

The home team jumped to a 3-0 first-inning lead with a Blake McWilliams RBI double and RBI groundouts from Lance Daugherty and Mike Jacks. McWilliams doubled in two more runs in a five-run second inning that padded the Panther lead to 8-0.

A Newton pitching change could not slow down the Knoxville attack. KHS scored three more times in the third, with Adam Thiel singling in a run and Daugherty getting his third RBI of the game on a single to center. Shoddy Cardinal defense allowed the Panthers to score six more runs in the fourth despite only two hits.

Thiel, McWilliams, Zach Stuart and Zach Lenger each had two hits. Thiel scored four runs, with McWillaims, Lenger and Danny Lee each scoring three times on a night featuring plenty of huge Panther offensive numbers.

Kellen Glover was the winning pitcher, going all five innings and allowing four runs on five hits and striking out four Newton hitters.

The Panthers (5-6 LHC, 10-12 overall) travel to Grinnell Friday for a JV/Varsity game. The two teams split a doubleheader in Knoxville earlier this season.