Knoxville 6  Pella Christian 8

Monday June 30, 2008

by Don French

Knoxville staged a good rally Monday evening against the Pella Christian Eagles, but the Panthers fell just short in an 8-6 defeat at the Knoxville field. This was the conclusion of the game that had been suspended on June 9 because of rain with Knoxville trailing by a 6-1 margin.

The Panthers wasted little time whittling away at the Eagles' lead, scoring twice as play resumed in the fourth inning. Jesse Swanson's double to the gap drove in Josh Russell, and Mike Jacks followed with an RBI hit to trim PC's cushion to 6-3.

An Eagle batter stroked a two-run homer to again put Knoxville in a five-run hole. The Panthers trailed 8-3 going into the seventh inning, but would mount a valiant rally. After Chad Ball reached on an Eagle error and Jared McRoberts doubled, Ben Myers jacked a PC pitch over the left-field fence for a three-run home run. Now Knoxville trailed by only two, with still nobody out. Base hits by Blake McWilliams and Zach Lenger and a walk to Josh Russell loaded the bases, but the Panthers were unable to get those runners across the plate.

Kirk Keffer took the loss on the hill for Knoxville, pitching the first three innings of the contest before it was suspended. Myers pitched the final three innings, allowing two runs on three hits. With this loss, Knoxville tumbled to 9-7 in the LHC and 11-15 overall.