It was nowhere near what the Knoxville Baseball Squad was used to seeing this summer as the Panthers finished 16-18. However, Coach Turner Devore and the Panthers lost a talented group to graduation after last summer and knew there would be new faces in a lot of places in 2024. Devore told KNIA/KRLS Sports the younger players forced into new roles quickly realized this was not going to be as easy as they thought.

Devore: “Even talking exit meetings the kids thought it was better to lose and that it wasn’t as easy as it was last year. We thought we would be a little deeper pitching this season, we just didn’t have that one guy that could go out and shut their other team down.”

Devore adds most of the players will be more comfortable in their roles next summer. Knoxville only loses one senior and will return nearly all of its starters for 2025.