KNOX — Moniteau's Derek Boben jogged from the mound Wednesday afternoon at Keystone High School's baseball field.

As he neared his team's dugout, he smacked his glove, signifying the frustration he felt after allowing Brookville to score three runs in the top of the first inning.

The Warriors' ace responded by pitching six shutout frames in top-seeded Moniteau's 6-3 win in a District 9 Class AA semifinal playoff.

“That's four year's-worth of developing mental toughness,” said Moniteau coach Ross Martin. “He battled early on today and got through it.”

Boben entered the playoffs with a minuscule ERA of 0.43 while striking out 49 and walking just 10 in 32 1/3 innings pitched. But he opened Wednesday's game with control problems, walking Logan Thrush and Ben Reitz on just nine pitches.

Brookville's No. 3 hitter, Kyle Dunkle, then crushed a Boben offering over the left-field fence.

“I began the game by overthrowing my fastball,” said Boben. “This was the worst start to a game I've had since the district final last year (a 7-3 loss to Cranberry).”

Boben continued to struggle to start the top of the second, walking Dane Lyle and allowing a single to Espy Reinhard. With one out, he received some bad luck as Thrush's sacrifice bunt attempt turned into an infield single when the Warriors had nobody covering first base.

With the bases loaded, Reitz hit into a fielder's choice with Lyle being forced out at home. Boben then struck out Dunkle to end the threat.

“Not giving up any runs there was big,” said Boben. “I pride myself in getting out of tough situations.”

“It would have been nice to cash in there with a couple of runs,” said Brookville coach Bruce Ferry. “We wanted to work the count today, make him (Boben) throw strikes. It worked for us early on, but once he started getting ahead of our hitters, he made it a lot tougher on us.”

Boben said he felt he returned to his regular-season form in the third inning, but the Warriors were still trailing on the scoreboard. They did manage a run in the second when Nick Sosigian's groundout plated Zack Adamson.

Jake Jewart scored in the third thanks to a Brookville throwing error and Moniteau entered the bottom of the fifth on the short end of a 3-2 score.

Up to that point, the Warriors had tallied just two hits against Reitz, who was chased from the game after a one-out double from Boben, followed by a single from Zack Adamson.

Jordan Tosh was called in to douse the rally, but courtesy runner Wyatt Ifft scored on Lake Pry's groundout and Josh Adamson doubled home another run and Moniteau was up for good at 4-3.

The Warriors added insurance in the sixth as Wyatt Geibel and Jewart both drove in a run, the former on a double.

Boben walked two batters in the top of the seventh, but stranded them both.

The Warriors (15-3) had three extra-base hits and five players drove in a run.

“One through nine, everybody's got a job to do at the plate,” said Martin. “We expect a lot out of our guys.”

The Warriors will face Karns City for a third time this season for the District 9 championship next week at a site and time to be determined.

The Warriors won the first two meetings by scores of 7-6 and 2-1.

Brookville 300 000 0 — 3 5 3

Moniteau 011 022 x — 6 7 1

W: Derek Boben 7 IP (7K, 7BB). L: Ben Reitz 4.1 IP (1K, 3BB).

Brookville (7-13): Logan Thrush 1B R, Ben Reitz R, Kyle Dunkle HR 3RBI, Gavin Park 1B, Espy Reinhard 1B 2B

Moniteau (15-3): Jake Jewart R RBI, Derek Boben 2B, Zack Adamson 1B 2R, Lake Pry 1B RBI, Josh Adamson 2B RBI, J.J. Waid 1B, Nick Sosigian 1B R RBI, Wyatt Geibel 2B R RBI, Wyatt Ifft R

Next: Moniteau vs. Karns City, District 9 Class AA championship game, TBD