Knights suffer first shutout in loss to Xtreme

For the first time this season, the West Palm Beach Knights (6–8) were shut out as they fell to the Palm Beach Xtreme (12–4), 5–0. The Knights had a chance to bring their record up to .500, but the struggles on offense prevented West Palm Beach from doing so.

The Knights had three hits for the entire game, and the first came from Danny Baez, who began the game with a single. But the single from Baez did not lead to much, as Townson Ellis went out on a fly out to left field, and Baez got caught stealing second base for out number two. The inning then ended with a 4–3 putout on Tyler Cox.

After a scoreless first, West Palm Beach began the second like they did the first inning with a single from Andrew Eppinger. But the next three at bats resulted in putouts and the inning came to a quick end.

Palm Beach then scored the first two runs of the game, with Evan Morse capitalizing off of an error from first baseman Luke Shannahan, and Logan Rose scoring with a sacrifice fly from Tommy Melvin.

West Palm Beach had only one hit the remainder of the way, and that came from Gino Bellantoni in the third inning. But the Knights never threatened to get in scoring position that much, as no runners were able to make it to third base.

The score remained 2–0 all the way until the sixth inning, where the game became out of reach for the Knights. Hunter Fitz-Gerald recorded an RBI single to score Kobe Benson, and with the bases loaded, Evan Ames was also able to get an RBI single to make the lead 4–0. Brett Young then made it home with a fielder’s choice after putout was made on Chase Ashby and the Knights now had to come back from a 5–0 deficit to stay alive.

The seventh and final inning was unfortunately anticlimactic for West Palm Beach. After Townson Ellis advanced to first base on a hit by pitch, the game ended on a putout on Tyler Cox, a strike out for Eppinger, and a swinging strike out from Franklin Carney to seal the deal for the Knights.

Not a lot of offense was generated from both sides, as there was a combined eight hits, but Palm Beach was able to do enough to earn a win against the Knights.

Pitching:

in his first start for West Palm Beach, Patrick Montagna pitched five innings and finished with a game high four strikeouts and only one earned run with two walks. Although Montagna finished with the loss, more performances similar to Wednesday should lead to victories. Hunter Raiston picked up the win for Palm Beach, as he was on the mound for six innings allowing no runs and throwing on strikeout.

Up Next:

The Knights will return to Keiser field on Friday to take on the Boca Raton Blazers (3–13). The game is set to begin at 10:00 AM.