Knoxville 10 Newton 5

Friday July 3, 2009

by Don French

Knoxville remained firecracker-hot entering the July 4th holiday, winning their eighth straight game Friday night. The Panthers jumped to an early lead and then pulled away late to claim a 10-5 road win over the Newton Cardinals. The contest was to have been the first of a twinbill, but the nightcap was postponed due to poor field conditions.

Knoxville jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first, with Mike Jacks driving in two of those runs and Lance Daugherty adding an RBI double. That would end the Panthers' scoring until the fifth inning; meanwhile, the Cardinals rallied to tie the game.

Two fifth-inning runs gave the Panthers the lead for good. The frame was highlighted by a perfect suicide squeeze, with Danny Lee laying down a bunt single as Zach Lenger raced home from third base.

Starting pitcher Kellen Glover was the winning pitcher. He allowed just three hits but was lifted in the bottom of the fifth as his control began to struggle on a mound made into mud by a constant rain. Jamie VanderVeer was solid in relief, allowing Newton only one run over the final two-plus innings.

Meanwhile, the Panther bats made their lead much more comfortable, combining for five runs in the sixth and seventh. Adam Thiel, Blake McWilliams and Zach Stuart strung together base hits in the sixth, and Knoxville took advantage of two Cardinal errors in the seventh.

The Panthers are now 17-12 overall and 12-6 in LHC play.