Knoxville 11 Pella 1

Tuesday June 30, 2009

by Don French

Two big innings carried the Panthers to an easy win in the first game of Tuesday night's conference doubleheader against Pella.  Knoxville scored five times in the second inning and added four more in the fourth on their way to a five-inning 11-1 rout of the Little Dutch.

The second-inning outburst gave the Panthers a 5-0 lead as the KHS bats totaled six hits in the frame. Zach Lenger, Adam Thiel and Blake McWilliams each had RBI singles, and Danny Lee provided the big blow, stroking a two-run double to right field.

That was more than enough run support for Panther pitcher Kellen Glover, who threw a complete-game two-hitter and allowed just one unearned run. The sophomore right-hander struck out four Dutch hitters and walked two.

But Knoxville wanted to end this one early, and the Panthers did so by bunching six hits and four runs in the fourth. Mike Jacks, Lance Daugherty, Nathan Hegwood and Zach Stuart combined for four straight hits in the inning. A Thiel single and McWilliams triple in the fifth inning combined for the last two runs in the fifth and an early end to the contest by ten-run rule. The win extended Knoxville's winning streak to five games, easily the Panthers' longest of the season.