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Eric Jones pitched six outstanding innings and Knoxville’s offense rose to the challenge as the Panthers clinched their ninth trip to the state baseball tournament last night with a convincing 7-2 win over Mount Pleasant. Knoxville jumped on top 3-0 in the second inning as Blake McWilliams, Mike Jacks, and Lance Daugherty all scored. Knoxville plated the rest of its runs in the fifth inning and Daugherty came up big breaking the game open with a two R-B-I double to make it 5-0, Kellen Glover would bring Daugherty home and Jacob Cunningham’s sacrifice fly to centerfield brought home Knoxville’s seventh run. Mount Pleasant would score one in the bottom of the fifth and bottom of the seventh, but never really threatened the entire game. Asked about the aggressive base running, Coach Steve Mott said sometimes you have to do a few things different to get the results you desire. Jones got the win going six innings giving up just one run on four hits, walked three and struck out eight Mount Pleasant batters. Jamie VanderVeer pitched the seventh in relief. Knoxville is now 24-9 and has earned the number one seed at the class 3A State Tournament next week and will play Independence at noon on Tuesday from Principle Park in Des Moines.

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