The Newton baseball team traveled to Knoxville on Thursday to take on the rival Panthers in a scheduled doubleheader that was supposed to be played on Monday, but was rescheduled due to thunderstorms.
The Cards split the two games with the Panthers, winning 3-2 on the front end and losing 1-3 in Game Two.
In the first game, the Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead early on with a run in the second inning, but the Cards put two runs up on the board in the third to take a 2-1 lead. Knoxville answered back with a run in the bottom of the inning, and the score would stay the same for quite some time.
The game would spill over into extra innings. Newton would score late, and hold on for the win. The Cards had a run cross the plate in the ninth inning. Jordan Travis came in to close out the game.
Sophomore Tyler Wood started the game and got the win for the Cardinals.
He pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and three walks. Wood struck out five batters.
The Cards pieced together seven hits on the offensive end. Chandler Sturtz went 2-for-4 in the leadoff spot with a double and a walk. Taylor Field was 1-for-4 with a run scored and two stolen bases.
Wood was 1-for-5 with an RBI double. Mike McCormick went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base.
In the second game, the Panthers were able to keep the Cardinal bats quiet, and one big inning was enough for the home team to come away with the victory.
Newton scored first, putting up a run in the top of the third inning on an RBI single off the bat of Wood. That 1-0 lead would not last for long, though, as the Panthers scored three in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead and effectively end the scoring for the day.
Junio Derek Wrage started the game and took the loss for Newton. He pitched the first five innings, surrendering two earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four Panther batters.
Outside of Wood’s RBI single, Newton pieced together four other hits, all of which were singles. McCormick had two hits in three at-bats. Jeff Stanton and Jacob Hill contributed with singles, and Hill was the Cardinal runner that crossed the plate.