Kyler Gifford shined on the mound for the Knoxville baseball team Saturday night as the Panthers defeated Des Moines Christian on the road in their first game of Class 3A Substate 8 action, heard live on 95.3 KNIA.

The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning after a bases-loaded base-clearing double by Kyle Friend with two strikes and two outs. The Panthers then answered back with one run in the third inning after Roston McCarty reached on an error and Lincoln Norris delivered Knoxville’s first base hit of the game off DMC starting pitcher Miles Trenkamp. The Panthers then scored two more in the fourth inning to tie the game up after a base hit by Briar Kingrey, a drawn walk by Grant DeMoss, a base hit by Brendan Woolsey and an error on the Lions defense. 

The Panthers scored another run in the fifth inning to take a 4-3 lead after a Brady Roozeboom double and then tacked on three more in the seventh against new Lions pitcher Jack Isenhart after a Norris single, Gifford walk, Brady Roozeboom single, walks from Kingrey and DeMoss and a sac fly by Woolsey to put the game out of reach and secure the 7-3 win. After the second inning Gifford did not allow a run the rest of the game and only gave up two more hits as he had three up and three down in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings. Gifford had a complete game performance to pick up his seventh win of the season. 

Knoxville Head Coach Turner DeVore says despite facing a good pitcher like Trenkamp, his team was able to put together some effective at bats to compliment a strong pitching performance by Gifford.

“The kids put together some really good at bats. Tremkamp was extremely tough and we had to play a little small ball and get some mistakes from them and then Brady had that huge double to give us the lead and then ended up having that big hit later on and then they struggled to throw strikes a little bit. Kyler was just great on the mound, giving up three hits all night long.”

The Panthers will now travel to Saydel on Monday for a substate semifinals matchup against the Eagles which can also be heard on 95.3 KNIA.