April 24, 2024

Hard Knox: Cardinal baseball loses to 3A No. 9 Panthers

By Jocelyn Sheets

Newton High senior Brennen Dodd hits the ball during a home game this season. Dodd had one of five singles the Cardinals had in Monday’s non-conference game at Knoxville. The Class 3A ninth-ranked Knoxville Panthers beat the Cardinals, 6-1. (Jocelyn Sheets)

KNOXVILLE — Knoxville’s Panthers used a three-run second inning to pull away from the visiting Newton High Cardinals Monday night. The Cardinals fell to the Class 3A ninth-ranked Panthers, 6-1.

“I told the guys if I looked back in our scorebook, in 90 percent of the games we lost this season we’ve had one bad inning,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said. “We didn’t look as sharp playing tonight as we did last week.”

Newton fell to 8-27 with one regular-season game remaining. The Cardinals play at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday against host South Tama.

Newton opens Class 4A Substate 2 play on Friday in a 7 p.m. game against 4A fifth-ranked Ankeny Centennial. The game will be played at Northview Middle School in Ankeny.

The Cardinals got on the scoreboard first on Monday against Knoxville. The teams each marked up a run in the second inning.

Newton’s came after one was out in the second. Ryan Barr singled and Jacob Murphy went in as a courtesy runner. Logan Wolfe followed by a base hit and Blayden Rhone drew a walk to load the bases. Jaron Roush drove in Murphy on a sacrifice fly.

Knoxville broke the 1-1 tie by scoring three runs in the third inning. The Panthers took advantage of two walks, a passed ball and Newton’s only error of the game. They also had a double in the inning.

“The first two innings we had great at-bats and hit the ball hard, but after we got behind, we started pressing,” Brisel said. “We struggled in all phases of the game and you can’t do that especially against a good team like Knoxville.”

Knoxville added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to push out to its final margin of victory.

Barr started on the mound for Newton and went four innings. Barr allowed five runs on four hits and four walks and had one strikeout. Trevor Ergenbright worked two innings, giving up one run on three hits and had one strikeout.

Barr led the Cardinals’ offense with two singles. Brennen Dodd, Trey Vanderlaan and Wolfe each had a single.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com