The Knights (23-23) blasted their way to an early five-run cushion, then survived a late Gwinnett rally for a close win thanks to another shutdown appearance from Ben Peoples. Jonathan Cannon turned in a solid start despite some wild command, allowing just one run over five innings while working around four walks and punching out four.
Offensively, the Knights brought the thunder early, with Jacob Gonzalez launching his 15th homer in the second before Oliver Dunn, Korey Lee, and Austin Hays all went deep in a span of two innings to bury Gwinnett under a pile of baseballs leaving the yard. Braden Montgomery kept his heater alive as well, ripping an RBI double in the third after Rikuu Nishida swiped second following a bunt single. Montgomery’s bat keeps looking more and more ready for the next challenge.
Things got unnecessarily sweaty late when Gwinnett came back within one against Tyler Schweitzer, but Peoples once again looked like the steadiest arm in the building, escaping ninth-inning trouble with the help of a gorgeous game-ending relay from Gonzalez and Lee to cut down the tying run at the plate…