Jacob Jones, Walk-Off Hit-By-Pitch Lift Karns City to Dramatic 4-3 Win Over Rival Moniteau

BUTLER, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Karns City baseball coach Josh “Sluggo” Smith didn’t have any problems finding the words to praise sophomore Jacob Jones.

“An absolute bull,” Smith said.

Jones was sharp on the mound after a bit of a scuffling start, giving up just three runs, two earned, on three hits while striking out seven, and the Gremlins were able to beat rival Moniteau on a walk-off hit by pitch with two outs in a the bottom of the seventh inning for a 4-3 win on Wednesday night.

(Pictured above, Jacob Jones)

Jones was also 3 for 5 at the plate for Karns City.

“I knew last year he was going to be a very good player,” Smith said of Jones. “But I thought he needed some growing pains as a small ninth grader. But, I mean, he’s a stud. He threw 85 pitches against a very good team.”

Moniteau got to Jones with a run in the top of the first inning.

Connor Ealy led off with a ringing double on the first pitch of the game at cavernous Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park and later scored on a RBI groundout by Keagan Book.

Karns City answered with a run in the bottom of the first on a RBI groundout by Michael Neff that scored Hobie Bartoe.

The Gremlins grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second against Moniteau starter Brock Matthews on a run-scoring single by Jones.

It stayed that way until the top of the fourth when Moniteau drew even at 2-2 on a sacrifice fly by James Gillen, then took a 3-2 lead with an unearned run in the top of the sixth inning.

Karns City battled back, taking advantage of an error that led to a RBI single by Neff to knot the game at 3-3 against Warrior reliever, freshman Dawson Cook, who pitched well in his stint.

Cook stuck out seven over his 2⅔ innings and got two quick outs to start the seventh when things unraveled for Moniteau.

A pop up by Bartoe fell between Cook and catcher Book for an infield single. Jones followed with a single and then Mallick Metcalfe drew an intentional walk.

On a 2-1 count, a fastball rode up and in on Troy Nagel, hitting him on the forearm for the walk-off HBP.

Moniteau argued the ball hit the knob of Nagel’s bat, but after a short conference, the umpires awarded Nagel first base.

It was an odd ending in a rivalry series between the two schools that has seen a fair share of strange outcomes in the past.

“I mean, it doesn’t come down to that call. There’s a lot of other times in the game where we should have capitalized,” said Moniteau senior Dawson Wallace. “It was a tough call. I mean, personally, I don’t think it should have went that way, but it’s not that one call that cost us.”

Matthews and Cook combined to plunk four Karns City batters and walked six.

Matthews worked four innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out four, walking three and hitting three.

Cook got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth inning with a strikeout.

“We leave a lot of guys on base,” Smith said. “That’s what one of our coaches said. We just need that timely hit. We need a guy to be able to step up and want it done.”

That guy was Metcalfe, who wasn’t happy with getting intentionally walked with first base open and two outs in the seventh.

“Everybody knows who that kid is and that he wasn’t going to get a chance to hit with the game on the line,” Smith said, grinning. “You don’t let the other team’s best player beat you. You make somebody else beat you.”

That just happened to be Nagel.

“That fastball came up and in and caught Troy on the arm,” Smith said. “A win is a win, but we had bad to average play. It was a great atmosphere and these guys learned how to deal with it. We didn’t play our best, but we stayed in the fight. That’s our mentality. Stay in the fight.”

Jones certainly did. The right-hander got stronger as the game progressed.

“I just tried to keep throwing strikes and stay efficient,” Jones said. “As the game goes on and it’s a tight game, I’m just trying not to walk anyone.”

Bartoe was also 3 for 5 with two runs scored for Karns City, which had eight singles.

Ian Ross also doubled for the Warriors (8-8), who have been snake-bit at times this season, losing five games by two runs or less.

For Karns City (11-5), winning a game like this is encouraging going forward.

“We grinded,” Smith said. “We won a game against Cranberry (on Monday), but we didn’t have our best game. We approached the guys and said, ‘You know, we need young men here. You need to get a little tougher.’ And, you know, we were tough.”