Knoxville 7 Newton 6

Friday July 2, 2010

by Don French

Blake McWilliams homered and drove in two runs and Jacob Cunningham drove in two more to lead Knoxville to a 7-6 squeaker over Newton Friday night in the first game of a Little Hawkeye Conference double-header.

The Panthers broke out to a 2-0 lead in the second when starting pitcher Lance Daugherty reached on a Cardinal error and Kellen Glover was hit by a pitch. Courtesy runner Blake Wyatt scored on Cunningham's double over the right fielder's head and Glover later scored on a wild pitch.

After Newton tied the game with two runs in the top of the third, Knoxville promptly retook the lead with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Four straight hits fueled the Panthers' rally, which Eric Jones started with a single ahead of McWilliams' home run to left. Mike Jacks followed with a double and scored on Daugherty's RBI single up the middle.

The Cards scored three more runs in the next two innings to hang around and trim Knoxville's lead to 6-5. The Panthers scored one more in the fifth on Cunningham's second RBI hit. That run would prove important as a Newton homer in the seventh pulled the Cardinals to within a run once again. Any thoughts of a further rally for the visitors were slammed shut by a fine pitching job in relief from Jamie VanderVeer, who struck out five of the six batters he faced to earn his first save.

Daugherty pitched the first four innings to get the win, allowing eight hits and  four runs, and improved to 3-1 on the mound this season.