Karns City entered its baseball playoff game Wednesday against Moniteau riding an eight-game winning streak.

The Warriors offered little resistance on the way to No. 9.

The Gremlins scored early, taking advantage of Moniteau's poor defensive play and rolled to a 9-2 victory at Kelly Automotive Park.

“Moniteau and Cranberry moved on from District 9 the last two years,” said Karns City senior catcher Cullen Williams. “We wanted it to be our turn.”

The Gremlins (15-5) will face Chestnut Ridge (12-7) in a District 9/5 subregional final next Thursday in Punxsutawney.

An early momentum shift Wednesday gave the Gremlins a 1-0 lead. With a runner at first base and one out, Tyler Yough tripled to right field, but the play ended with Nolan Riley being thrown out at the plate.

A fielding error moments later, however, allowed Yough to score. It was the beginning of a long game for Moniteau in the field. The Warriors committed six errors.

“We throw a guy out at the plate and thought we could take a lot of momentum from it,” said Moniteau coach Ross Martin, “but they end up scoring anyway.”

Karns City added two more tallies in the second on the strength of just one hit. Three Warrior miscues behind starting pitcher Hunter Fitzingo allowed Jake Weckerly and Eric Dodd to score.

“It was definitely a bad chain of events for us today,” said Martin. “Defensive letdowns were the name of the game.”

The 3-0 lead proved to be all Dodd needed on the mound. It was just 13 days ago that Karns City's senior had pitched a complete game in a 4-3 win over the Warriors.

“In that game, he was always getting ahead in the count,” said Gremlin coach Dave McElroy. “Today, the counts were more even, but he continued to throw strikes and the guys behind him made the plays.”

Dodd shook off a Warrior run in the bottom of the third — Josh Adamson's single plated courtesy runner Lee DeMatteis — to blank the Warriors from the fourth through the sixth frame.

The next time he allowed a run came in the seventh when Fitzingo's base hit scored Wyatt Geibel. By that point, the Gremlins had nine runs of their own.

A three-run sixth helped the Gremlins ice the game. The final two tallies in the inning were scored when Williams' singled off relief pitcher Jake Jewart brought home Stephen O'Donnell and Riley.

Fitzingo started on the mound for the Warriors, but plagued by several errors behind him, lasted just four innings. He allowed four runs on five hits.

“The big thing was our first-pitch approach at the plate,” said McElroy. “If we did swing at the first pitch of an at-bat, we wanted it to be a ball that we could hit hard somewhere.”

Nagy (1.2) and Jewart (1.1) combined to pitch the final three innings for Moniteau, which finished with a 15-5 effort for the season.

“It was a quality season with a quality record,” Martin said, “but it had a disappointing ending.”

Karns City has now won 13 of its last 14 games.

“We started 2-4, but we came together and gathered ourselves,” said Williams. “The seniors have really stepped up.”

“Once we got rolling, the kids began to trust the coaches and vice versa,” said McElroy. “That sets the table for good things.”

Karns City 120 113 1 — 9 8 1

Moniteau 001 000 1 — 2 6 6

W: Eric Dodd 7 IP (4K, 3BB). L: Hunter Fitzingo 4 IP (2K, 2BB).

Karns City (15-5): Stephen O'Donnell 1B R RBI, Nolan Riley R, Tyler Yough 2-3B 2R RBI, Cullen Williams 2-1B 3RBI, Markus Lantz 1B, Jace Ebbitt 1B R, Jake Weckerly R, Eric Dodd 1B 2R, Colton Hutchison R

Moniteau (15-5): Hunter Fitzingo 2-1B RBI, Jared Lominski 1B, Josh Adamson 1B RBI, Wyatt Geibel 1B R, Brice Williams 1B, Lee DeMatteis R

June 1: Karns City vs. Chestnut Ridge at Punxsutawney H.S.