The Knoxville Baseball Squad stayed perfect on the season with a 9-6 win over class 4A #10 Indianola on Thursday as heard live on KNIA. The Panthers got on top in the 1st inning when Luke Spaur drew a leadoff walk, then Trenton Kingery ripped a double, followed by an Indians error that brought Spaur and Kingery home for a 2-0 lead. The Indians would get one run back in their half of the 1st on a Bennett Brueck RBI single, but back came the Panthers to get up 3-1 after two innings. Knoxville would open it up to 6-1 when Beau Leisure, Koby Higginbotham and Trey Wight all scored, but the Indians would not go away as they equalized the Panthers three runs with three of their own when Brady Blake led off with a double. However, the Indians would not score until the 7th when they needed five runs just to tie after getting down 9-4 heading into the 7th inning. Knoxville Coach Turner Devore told KNIA/KRLS Sports Koby Higginbotham’s mound success Thursday was a huge momentum swing for everyone.

Devore: “We did what we needed to do, we also got help from them with their errors that they likely won’t make later in the season. We got a great outing from Koby, and he’s been kind of on the outside looking in with the pitching staff, and we know we’ll need him to step up next year, and to get this outing by him without using Luke was huige.”

Indianola Coach Jon Fitzpatrick said the mistakes cost his team.

Fitzpatrick: “We need to do the little things better, like fielding bunts and throwing across the field, but it’s early and we’ll get better.”

Higginbotham got the win going 3 2/3 innings giving up four runs on six hits, two walks and four strikeouts. Parker Kennedy took the loss going just 2/3 of an inning giving up five runs on three hits and three walks. Knoxville is now 7-0 and will host Cardinal tonight, which can be heard live on 95.3 KNIA, while Indianola drops to 3-4 on the season and will host Des Moines East in a double header tonight.