BARBOURVILLE — Knox Central kept its momentum rolling, and once the Panthers got going, there wasn’t much slowing them down.
Knox Central scored four runs in the first inning and used a seven-run fifth inning to pull away for a 12-4 win over Bell County on Thursday night.
The Panthers improved to 14-6 on the season and have now won seven straight.
“Good win tonight for our team,” Knox Central coach Mike Bright said. “Bell is a very good baseball team they compete throughout the lineup. I thought we had very good offensive approaches the entire game. Matthew Powenski and Trevor Smith both hit two big home runs when we needed them. All in all, solid performance at the plate, had a few errors. We will try to clean it up tomorrow.”
After Bell County answered Knox Central’s early push with a pair of runs in the fifth inning to trim the deficit, the Panthers quickly responded. Knox Central broke the game open in the bottom half of the inning, stringing together some timely hits and capitalizing on opportunities to stretch the lead to eight runs.
Trevor Smith led the way at the plate, finishing with two hits (one was a home run), and four RBI while Hayden Melton added two hits and three RBIs. Brady Engle also contributed a run-scoring hit, and Matthew Powenski scored hit a home run, and scored three times.
On the mound, Easton Ramsey picked up the win, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits while striking out three over five innings. Russell Mills and Zach Carroll combined to close things out.
