BUTLER, Pa. (EYT/D9) — It hasn’t always been pretty. It hasn’t always been exciting or flashy. But the Karns City baseball team has found ways to get it done.
The Gremlins did again on Wednesday evening against Union/A-C Valley, manufacturing runs and taking advantage of a few key Falcon Knight mistakes on the way to a 6-1 victory at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park.
It was the sixth win in the last seven games for Karns City, which wrapped up the regular season at 13-6 and secured a likely first-round District 9 Class 2A home playoff game next week.
“This was a must-win for us emotionally,” said Gremlin coach Josh Smith. “Every aspect of the game moving forward into the playoffs is important. We treated this like a playoff game.”
Karns City went to Jacob Jones on the mound. The sophomore has become the Gremlins’ ace, turning in fine performances down the stretch.
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He did again against Union/A-C Valley (9-8).
Jones gave up a run in the first inning and then nothing else, tossing a two-hit shutout. He struck out seven, didn’t walk a batter, and needed just 84 pitches to set down the Falcon Knights.
“It feels good,” Jones said. “I just tried to keep those strikes coming, get ahead of guys and keep the game moving.”
Jones had his fastball/breaking ball combo working splendidly.
Zach Cooper led off the game with a double for Union/A-C Valley against Jones and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Trey Fleming, but the young right-hander didn’t give up another hit until Fleming tripled in the top of the fourth with one out.
Fleming was cut down at the plate by Karns City shortstop Mallick Metcalfe on a sharply hit ground ball by Sebastian Link two pitches later.
That was Union/A-C Valley’s final threat.
“We had a lead so we were playing in about halfway,” Smith said. “If it was hit softly, we were going to give up the run to get the out, but it was hit sharp. (Metcalfe) has been in that situation a bunch of times and he made a nice play.”
Karns City opened up a 6-1 lead on a three-run error in the bottom of the fifth.
That was plenty for Jones, who threw three pitches on Tuesday night to get a strikeout to end a 6-2 win over Brockway.
“We put the best lineup we could out there,” Smith said. “We pitched well. We played good defense. We had timely hitting. We did a lot of good things. That’s a recipe to win.”
Karns City didn’t have an extra base hit against a trio of Union/A-C Valley pitchers, but the Gremlins grinded out at-bats with eight singles, four walks and two hit batsmen.
Braden Grossman went 3 for 3 with a walk and scored two runs.
“This was a good team win,” Grossman said. “That was a good team and it feels good to get that one heading into the playoffs. We’ve had a couple of good wins the last two days.”
Bailey Crissman got the start for Union/A-C Valley and went three innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits in three innings before leaving after 50 pitches.
“He could have gone 100 pitches today, but he’s thrown a lot of pitches this year,” said Union/A-C Valley coach John Irwin. “I wanted to give him a little break. We have another game on Friday and he’ll probably go 25 pitches then. He’s been our workhorse and we’ve probably overused him, honestly.”
Karns City was starting to make good contact against Crissman, which further hastened his exit.
“Bailey and I actually made that decision,” Irwin said. “Bailey said they’re hitting me and I agreed.”
Seth Best relieved Crissman and worked one inning, giving up three runs (one earned) on one hit. He walked four.
Link worked the final two innings, striking out two for the Falcon Knights, who are locked in to the fifth seed in Class A.
“We wanted to get different guys on the mound to get a look at them in case we need them,” Irwin said. “We’re probably going to either Cameron County or Otto-Eldred in the playoffs. My hat’s off to Seth and Sebby. They competed.”
Karns City will now also wait for the seeding and brackets to be released in what figures to be a competitive Class 2A playoff field.
“There are some really good teams this year. We lost to some really good teams this year,” Smith said. “We lost to Redbank and Clarion-Limestone. We lost to Punxsutawney. We lost to Hickory, which is twice the size of us. It was a good thing to get some of that humble pie. It shows you where you are at and what you need to do to compete.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
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