Pinnacle baseball made the trip to Springville on Wednesday to face the Merit Preparatory Academy Knights. The Panthers put eight runs on the board in the first inning and never looked back, closing out Merit 19-2 in four innings.

The Panthers sit at 5-5 and hold the No. 7 spot in the rankings released by the Utah High School Activities Association and MaxPreps.

With the score at 2-0 in the first, AJ Jimenez hit a ground ball to third and reached on an error, driving in Domonick Huitt and Brody Howell, getting the score to 4-0. Later in the inning, with the score 6-0 and with one out, Brevon Hyde scored on an error by the pitcher, and then Joey Howell sent a bunt to the pitcher that allowed Bryson Shumway to score, giving the Panthers an 8-0 lead.

The Panthers came on again in the second inning to put five more runs on the board. Merit added a run in the bottom of the second, and then after the Panthers went quiet in the top of the third, the Knights added one more in the bottom half of the inning to cut slightly into the Pinnacle lead at 13-2.

In the top of the fourth, the Panthers went on a tear, adding six more runs to push the score to 19-2, and then shut Merit down to take the win.

Brody Howell had the stat line of the day, going 2-2 with three runs scored and an RBI. Shumway went 3-4 with a pair of runs and one RBI. Joey Howell was 2-4 with two runs and three RBIs, and Jimenez had four RBIs in the win.

Joey Howell got the start on the mound, going two innings, giving up a pair of runs and striking out six. Brody Howell went one inning with a pair of strikeouts, and Shumway closed out the game with two strikeouts.

Friday, the Panthers will square off with the Green River Pirates in Price.

Game time is set for 3:00 p.m..