KNOCH TAKES DOWN HIGHLANDS ON WALK-OFF SINGLE

Inclement weather since the start of the spring season left WPIAL baseball teams with precious little outdoor practice, making work on certain fundamentals of the game — baserunning, for instance — that much more difficult.

On a rare day in the sun, a light shone on Highlands' struggles in that area.

The Golden Rams had five runners thrown out on the basepaths, and Knoch took advantage, with sophomore Ethan Sloane's one-out single in the bottom of the seventh lifting the Knights to a 2-1 walk-off victory in a Section 1-4A game Wednesday at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler.

"We made mistakes on the basepaths today," Highlands coach Brett Burger said. "That cost us big. We had a couple innings where we had their starting pitcher on the ropes, and we couldn't cash in because we ran into outs."

Highlands (0-3, 0-1) put 11 runners on base against Knoch starter Jake Herrit but struggled to break through, in large part because of baserunning errors.

Twice the Golden Rams had two runners thrown out in the same inning. In one of those innings, a runner was thrown out at home plate.

"Defensively, we were on top of it," Knoch coach Sean O'Donnell said. "They made a couple baserunning mistakes, and we took advantage of it. In a close game like this, you've got to take outs where they're given."

Knoch catcher Dylan Swarmer did a lot of the heavy lifting, twice throwing out would-be base stealers, picking another runner off second and catching a fourth runner after he strayed too far from second base.

"(The defense) is awesome," said Herrit, an Army commit who limited Highlands to one run on four hits in seven innings, walking five and striking out five. "It's almost like in football when you have a line that makes your life 10 times easier."

Wednesday's game, the second section contest in as many days for both teams, turned into a duel between Herrit and Highlands pitcher Cory Nicastro, both juniors.

Nicastro overcame some early wildness and held Knoch (1-2, 1-1) to five hits in 61?3 innings, walking two and striking out two.

In the bottom of the seventh, Knoch second baseman Derek McGill singled with one out, moved to third on outfielder Alex Altmire's single and scored when Sloane's bouncing ball eluded Highlands second baseman Jon Thomas and slipped into right field.

It gave the Knights, who lost a pair of one-run games to begin the season, including a defeat on a bases-loaded balk Monday against Derry, a walk-off victory of their own.

"You don't want to get in a rut where they're thinking we're in a close game and here we go again," O'Donnell said. "It's a lot nicer to be on this side of it than it was Monday.

Knoch took the lead in the bottom of the first when Herrit singled, moved to second and third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a delayed steal after courtesy runner Brandon Stull took second.

Highlands loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fourth when Noah Gillette singled, Brandon Welsh was hit by a pitch and Nick Cichello walked. But Herrit induced Nicastro to hit a bouncing ball toward second base, and shortstop Mike McCarty turned an inning-ending double play.

Herrit, who didn't pitch his first two seasons at Knoch because of the presence of college recruits Cole Shinsky (Ohio), Alex Stobert (Tallahassee Community College) and Jeremy Frazier (Clarion), pitched out of jams all afternoon.

The Golden Rams finally tied the game in the sixth. Tyler Grosholz led off with a single and moved to third on Zac Kuniak's double down the third-base line. Gillette hit a grounder to shortstop, and McCarty threw Grosholz out out the plate. Brandon Welsh followed with a suicide squeeze to third base, scoring Kuniak, but Gillette's courtesy runner was cut down after rounding second.

"Only playing three games probably has a little to do with it," Burger said. "It's tough to run bases in the gymnasium, so it'll come as the season goes. We'll clean it up.

"We've been hitting the ball well, so I've been pleased with our offense. We've been playing solid defense and getting pretty good pitching. It's tough to waste an outing like we got today, but we'll be all right. We'll see these guys again."

O'Donnell said the Knights got more patient at the plate in the seventh inning, and it paid off with the victory as Sloane — the ninth batter in the order — came through.

"Our motto is that our No. 9 hitter is like our second leadoff hitter," Herrit said. "He just rolls over the order for us, so it doesn't matter where you are in the order, pretty much."

Said Burger: "We told the guys this game is over if we run the bases the right way. All we needed was a second run, and we probably ran into three or four outs. We've just got to keep battling, keep working, keep our heads up. They're a positive group, so we just need to keep at it."