Knoxville 2  Pella 1

Wednesday June 18, 2008

by Don French

Right fielder Chad Ball got his chance to deliver in the clutch Wednesday evening, and made the most of it. The senior drove an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Panthers a 2-1 victory over Pella in the first game of a LHC double-header.

Offense was hard to come by for either team most of this game, as Knoxville starting pitcher Aaron Todd and Pella's Tyler Knight engaged in a pitching duel. Both teams were scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Panthers pushed across a single run. Jesse Swanson's single scored Danny Lee for a 1-0 Knoxville lead.

The Dutch responded with a run of their own in the sixth to re-tie the score. The game remained a 1-1 tie going into the bottom of the seventh. Josh Russell led off the inning with a double to set up Knoxville's opportunity at the winning run. Swanson was intentionally walked and Mike Jacks sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out. This set the stage for Ball's game-winning hit.

Todd pitched the distance, allowing seven hits and not walking a single Dutch hitter to take the win.