Call Jeremy Frazier a third wheel if you like.

Either way, he was rolling.

Knoch's junior right-hander — who rarely pitches a lot of innings with ace hurlers Cole Shinsky and Alex Stobert on the staff — struck out a career-high 12 in six innings Wednesday night at Kelly Automotive Park.

He also permitted but one hit and threw 62 of his 90 pitches for strikes as the Knights defeated Highlands, 7-1.

“Jeremy was outstandin===g tonight,” Knoch coach George Bradley said. “He was pounding the strike zone all night.

“He wanted to go out and finish it, but when I saw he was at 90 pitches ... That was it.”

Dom Bucko pitched the seventh inning and picked up a pair of strikeouts himself.

But this night belonged to Frazier. He fanned 11 of the first 14 batters he faced. He struck out everyone in the Rams' lineup at least once.

“I started only two games last year,” Frazier said. “But that's OK. We have two Division I caliber pitchers on this team and they've earned those one and two spots.

“I'm just here to fill in the loose ends here and there.”

Frazier said he was able to spot his fastball, which set up his curve. But after a while, Highlands hitters were hoping to get a curve ball to swing at.

A two-out single to left by Tyler Alworth in the first inning was the lone hit for the Rams, who dropped their third straight Section 5-AAA game. Two walks and a throwing error plated Highlands' lone run in the sixth.

“That's the best pitcher we've faced this year,” Rams coach Jeff Weissert said. “He was overpowering us with that fastball. We were constantly swinging late on it.

“I told our hitters to sit back and wait on a breaking pitch. We had to start putting some balls in play.”

Highlands batters struck out only three times in their previous game.

Losing pitcher Alworth was solid in his own right, striking out five in five innings and throwing 48 of 71 pitches for strikes.

“He was very effective. But when you only get one hit, you're going to lose,” Weissert said.

Knoch broke open a scoreless game with three runs in the third. Jake Herrit legged out a double on a ground ball to center field to start the inning. Mike McCarty singled him to third and Herrit scored on a wild pitch. Stobert delivered a two-out, two-run single to center to cap the inning.

“We had to adjust to a wide strike zone a little bit and our guys did that in the middle innings,” Bradley said. “A strike is a strike if they call it a strike. Sometimes you have to adapt.

“That double was a hustle play. It wasn't coaching. Jake saw the open base and went for it. That set up the whole inning.”

Bucko's two-run double to center highlighted a three-run Knoch fifth. Bucko later scored on a passed ball.

Frazier did not walk a batter in the first five innings. He walked two in the sixth.

“That bottom of the fifth took a while when we were hitting,” Frazier said. “I started getting cold and I lost it.

“It doesn't matter what the score is. My job is to go out there and throw strikes.”

Logan Hickey's run-scoring triple down the right field line in the sixth closed the scoring. The bottom three in Knoch's batting order — Herrit, McCarty and Hickey — combined for four hits and scored four runs.

“We have the bricks here,” Bradley said. “We just need the cement to pull everything together and we're getting there.”

The Knights snapped a two-game skid with Wednesday's victory.

Highlands 000 001 0 — 1 1 1

Knoch 003 031 x — 7 6 1

W: Jeremy Frazier 6IP (12K, 2BB). L: Tyler Alworth 5IP (5K, 1BB).

Highlands (1-4, 0-3): Tyler Alworth 1B

Knoch (3-2, 2-1): Dom Bucko 2B 2-RBI, Alex Stobert 1B 2-RBI, Jake Herrit 2B, Mike McCarty 2-1B, Logan Hickey 3B RBI 2-R

Today: Knoch at Freeport