The two teams couldn't be entering the WPIAL playoffs on more radically different notes.

The Butler baseball team will be riding the wave of two dominant wins into the 6A postseason — 10-2 over Penn Hills Monday and 10-0 over Knoch on Wednesday night at Kelly Autmotive Park.

The Knights on the other hand will be looking to rebound in the 4A playoffs after a 10-4 loss to Pine-Richland Monday and the 10-run setback to the Golden Tornado.

“The difference in the last couple of games is we're playing fearless,” said Butler coach Cody Herald. “One through nine were all fearless and it showed. We got our running game back because we were fearless.”

And the Golden Tornado (11-6) seem to have gotten their mojo back.

Knoch (14-3) seems to have lost it this week.

The Knights committed four errors, managed just one hit against Butler starter Ryan Lynn and three pitchers gave up 10 hits.

“Baseball can humble you any day,” said Knoch coach Sean O'Donnell. “To me it seems like we were looking past this game. I don't know why we'd look past this game — they're a good team and they're close and it should have been a fun and exciting game.”

It started out that way as both Lynn and Knoch starter Jake Herrit cruised through the first inning.

Lynn got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third inning with a 6-4-3 double play.

Lynn then sailed through the next two innings for the five-inning one-hitter.

“Ryan did a great job,” Herald said. “It's only his second start, but it looked a lot like his first one — ground ball after ground ball.”

Herrit was sharp early, but lost command in the bottom of the third and gave up three runs.

Things got worse for Herrit and Knoch in the fourth as Butler sent 10 men to the plate in a six-run outburst.

Knoch committed three errors in the frame.

“We let one mistake turn into more and it kind of snowballed,” O'Donnell said. “It was a terrible game all-around, but a great team responds to that and gets better.”

Butler was ultra-aggressive on the bases and almost ran itself out of a couple of innings. But the pressure forced Knoch into mistakes that led to runs crossing the plate.

It's the kind of style Herald wants to play going forward in the 6A playoffs.

“We've been on them,” Herald said. “Most teams are playing their best baseball right now. We haven't reached our full potential.”

Knoch would like to forget about this week as quickly as possible.

The Knights, the Section 1-4A champions, will likely get a first-round bye when the WPIAL playoff pairings are released Friday morning.

“We've played great baseball all year,” O'Donnell said. “It's hard to play a full season, no matter how long that season is, without having a dud. We had a dud tonight and didn't really play our game. We'll get better tomorrow. Just glad maybe we got it out of our system.”

Butler isn't taking anything for granted in the playoffs, even coming out of arguably the best section from top to bottom in the WPIAL.

The Golden Tornado are the third-place team out of Section 1-6A.

“(The bottom seed) can always beat the (top seed),” Herald said. “Anything can happen in the playoffs. It's too strong to worry about who you're going to play.”

Knoch 000 00x x — 0 1 4

Butler 003 61x x — 10 10 2

No outs when mercy run scored

W: Ryan Lynn 5IP (3K, 1BB). L: Jake Herrit 3.1IP (2K, 4BB).

Knoch (14-3): Sean McGill 1B

Butler (11-6): Nick Kibbie 3-1B 2-RBI, Garet Banner 2-1B RBI, Connor Ollio 2B 1B RBI, Isiah Lucas 2-RBI, Colby Anderson 1B, Lynn 2-1B

TBD: Knoch and Butler in WPIAL playoffs, TBD