That. Really. Happened. On a long and whirlwind of an evening, Ben Wallace propelled the Knoxville baseball team past Dallas Center Grimes with a walk-off home run for a 5-3 win in the first round of the class 3A districts.
Knoxville fans had to be patient before the memorable finish happened, as the game lasted nearly four hours due to an hour and a half rain delay after the first inning. After the long layoff the Mustangs got on the board first with a solo home run off Kaleb Streigle in the second. The lead didn’t last long however, as the Panthers scratched across a run in the bottom half when Jacob Zuck singled and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch. The Panthers decided to show off their power with a pair of solo shots including Patrick Crawford going opposite field and Carter Bailey with a rocket to left to push the lead to 3-1. That lead held true after Streigle mowed down Mustang hitters in the middle innings including nine strikeouts. The Mustang offense came alive in the seventh with three hits to tie the game but Rylan Cox got a big strikeout to not allow anymore damage. The rest is history. With a runner on second and two outs Wallace hit a towering shot to left for the walk off winner and sent the Panther crowd into a frenzy. Cox was credited with the win, collecting the final three outs. Zuck added a pair of hits for the Panthers.
Knoxville moves to 30-11 on the year and advance to the district title game Monday traveling back to Grinnell. They will play the winner of Grinnell and ADM tonight, as they could not get their game in due to weather last night.