KNOX - Brookville baseball coach Bruce Ferry acknowledged it wasn't his pitcher's best day.

But don't tell that to Moniteau.

Nick Heschke struck out eight, walked one and scattered five hits as the Raiders claimed the District 9 Class AA title with a 9-2 victory over the Warriors at Keystone High School Thursday.

"Nick didn't have the great fastball today," said Ferry. "But his other stuff was good enough to keep their hitters off balance."

"I had never seen (Heschke) pitch before today," said Moniteau coach Arnie Trufley. "I read about him in the paper and knew he was pretty good. He proved it today."

The Warriors' runs came on Nathan Markle's two-out, two-run homer over the left-field fence in the top of the sixth inning, cutting Brookville's lead to 7-2.

But it was the Raiders who took full advantage of the wind blowing out, with Heschke, Garrett Dush and Matt Mohney each hitting two-run home runs over the same left-field fence off Moniteau starter Ryan Eberlein.

"There have been years in which we didn't hit a home run at all, and we got three today," said Ferry. "I guess they got up into the jet stream and carried out of here."

Heschke, Dush and Mohney saw their home runs come in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning, respectively. All three came off of Moniteau starter Ryan Eberlein.

Eberlein struck out seven, walked five and was charged with all nine runs on eight hits before being relieved by Cruz Eshenbaugh with one out in the bottom of the sixth.

Eberlein walked three batters in the first two innings, but none came around to score.

His wildness would cost him in the third frame, however.

With one out, Eberlein walked Cody Racchini before hitting Heschke with a pitch.

Both runners scored as Brookville posted three runs in the inning. The key hit was a ground-rule, RBI double by Mohney.

"Ryan's got good stuff, including a good curveball," said Trufley. "But we knew getting behind in counts was going to hurt him."

The Warriors got one hit in each inning from the third through the fifth, but were unable to plate a run.

Josh Warburton had a one-out single in the sixth inning and was on base when Markle hit his round-tripper.

It is Brookville's fifth district title in Ferry's eight seasons as coach of the team. The Raiders will enter the PIAA playoffs next week.

"Things have been going our way," said Ferry. "We're living well right now and, hopefully it can continue for us."

Moniteau 000 002 0 - 2 5 0

Brookville 003 222 x - 9 8 0

WP:

Nick Heschke (7 IP) 8 strikeouts, 1 walk.

LP:

Ryan Eberlein (5

IP) 7 strikeouts, 5 walks

Moniteau (13-8):

Josh Warburton 1B R, Nathan Markle 1B HR 2RBI, Mike Benson 2-1B

Brookville (14-8):

Nick Heschke HR 2RBI 2R, Matt Mohney 2B HR 3RBI 2R SB, Garrett Dush HR 2RBI, Cody Racchini 2-1B 3R SB, Matt Berfield 2-1B RBI