COLONELS CRUSH PANTHERS

 The Whitley County Colonels celebrated Senior Night with a 10-0 win over the hapless Knox Central Panthers in five innings Thursday afternoon.

Not only was the win Whitley County’s 20^th of the season, but Rose nearly threw a perfect game. The Union College signee allowed only two runners to reach base. He walked one and hit a batter.

The 20^th win was the second time since the mid 90’s that the Colonels have put together a 20-win season. They are currently 20-10. The mercy rule was the first time for Knox Central this season. The Panthers fell to 16-18 on the season.

Coach Kyle Adams was happy to see his team come out with fire in their eyes. “Obviously this is win no. 20, something this program has not done in eight or nine years. It’s a big accomplishment for the kids and good motivation going into the district tournament.”

“Who would have thought that on Senior Night Alex would have come out and thrown a no-hitter. He was just one or two batters shy of a perfect game,” Adams said. “He threw the ball really well and we hit the ball very well and was aggressive on the bases.”

“Knox Central is a good team. For us to shut them down the way we did, that says a lot about our team and the progress we have made this year,” Adams said.

The Colonels erupted for five runs in the bottom of the third when Austin Ysidro led off with a triple to right field. Crisologo followed with a run-scoring single.

Senior Tilmon Jackson smacked a single to left field and Luke Wood hit a sacrifice and reached on an error. Crisologo and Jackson scored on the play, putting the Colonels on top, 3-0.

Steve Watson and Rose flew out, but Jared Partin drew a walk before Cody Lewis doubled to center field as Woods and Partin scored for the five-run lead.

Once the Colonels bats were in high gear Whitley County was hard to stop and added a run in the bottom of the fourth. Crisologo reached base on a one-out error by the catcher. He ended at third on the play. Jackson pushed Crisologo across the plate when he made it to first on an error by the Central right fielder.

The Colonels ended the game in the bottom of the fifth with four runs. Rose led off the inning with a triple down the third base line. Alex Edmistin went in to run for the Whitley County pitcher and scored when Partin made it to first on a dropped third strike.

Before the inning was over, Partin along with Casey and Corey Crisologo scored for the 10-run lead.

Whitley Co. 8, Knox Central 0

Knox Central        000  00-   0  0  5

Whitley Co.          005  14- 10  8  0

Patterson, Bingham (3) and Mills. Rose and Lewis. W-Rose, L-Patterson. 2B-Crisologo (WC), Lewis (WC). 3B-Ysidro (WC), Rose (WC).