FAIRVIEW - Field location, not pitch location, well-placed hits, not hard-hit balls proved costly to Karns City Tuesday afternoon.

The Gremlins saw their baseball season come to an end with an odd 3-1 District 9 playoff loss to Brookville.

"We were lucky today," Brookville coach Bruce Ferry said. "Pretty much every break went our way, but I'm not gonna apologize for it.

"We've lost our share of games that way."

Karns City lost one that way on this day.

Brookville got to Gremlin ace Tyler Callihan for nine hits, but five of them never left the infield.

"They hit two balls hard off Tyler all day - and both of them hurt us," Karns City coach Rocky Brown said.

Both hard hits belonged to Nick Heschke. After Levi Singleton opened the Raiders' second inning by beating out a slow roller to shortstop, Callihan walked Cody Racchini with one out.

Heschke doubled deep to left field to give his team a 1-0 lead. With runners at second and third and one out, Callihan escaped further damage.

Racchini singled with one out in Brookville's fifth inning. Heschke followed with a towering fly ball that drifted over the left field fence. It was his fifth home run of the season and gave the Raiders a 3-0 lead.

"If this game's at our place, that's a long fly ball out," Ferry admitted. "There wasn't a whole lot of room out there."

Consecutive infield singles and stolen bases put Brookville runners at second and third with one out again - and again Callihan wriggled off the hook.

"This was a typical Tyler Callihan game," Brown said. "He kept us in it the whole way."

Karns City got a run back in its half of the fifth. Spencer Collins lined a single to left to open the frame. Pinch-runner John Pennington moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on Mike Lopresti's ground out to first and scored on pinch-hitter Mike Stimac's ground out to first.

"I was pacing in the dugout," Ferry said. "I didn't like the way this game was developing."

So after starting pitcher Matt Berfield walked Josh Behrens and Ryan Earley with one out in the sixth, Ferry called on ace pitcher Heschke.

Heschke entered the game with an 8-0-1 record, 0.95 earned run average and 82 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched.

His first pitch was a fastball to Kyle Texter, who lined it right up the middle. Heschke deflected the liner to second baseman Jacob Nunley, who retired Texter at first.

Heschke struck out Collins to end the threat.

"If that ball gets through, it's a totally different game. … It's a tie game, at least," Brown said. "The kid flicked his glove at the ball and hit it. It was that kind of day for us."

"Nick threw the kid a get-ahead fastball and he made solid contact with it," Ferry said. "Yeah, if Nick doesn't deflect that ball, we're in trouble."

Instead, the Raiders escaped with a victory and a berth in the District 9 title game Thursday against Moniteau, a 4-1 winner Tuesday at Cranberry.

Berfield entered the game with a 2-1 record, 2.96 ERA, 32 strikeouts and 23 walks in 26 innings. He struck out eight and walked five in winning Tuesday.

Callihan struck out 11 and walked one in taking the loss. He threw 108 pitches, 76 for strikes.

Callihan finished the season with a 5-4 record, a 2.35 ERA, 74 strikeouts and three walks in 46 innings pitched.

Karns City, playing its first game in 13 days, managed only three singles. Matt Allen had two of them.

"Baseball's a game you have to play every day to stay sharp," Brown said. "Not playing in two weeks definitely hurt us. It's not the only reason we lost, but it played a factor.

"I still think we're the better team, but what are you gonna do?"

Lucky or not, Ferry will take the victory.

"We didn't expect to be able to do much this year," he said. "But we'll take whatever we can get."

Brookville 001 020 0 - 3 9 0

Karns City 000 010 0 - 1 3 0

WP:

Matt Berfield (5

IP) 8 strikeouts, 5 walks.

LP:

Tyler Callihan (7 IP) 11 strikeouts, 1 walk

Brookville (13-8):

Cody Racchini 1B, Nick Heschke HR 2B 3-RBI, Mat Mohney 2-1B, Caleb Singleton 1B, Ryan Galbraith 1B, Levi Singleton 1B, Tyler Ross 1B

Karns City (13-4):

Matt Allen 2-1B, Spencer Collins 1B, Mike Stimac RBI

Thursday:

Brookville vs. Moniteau, District 9 championship, site and time TBA