A great start
JEFFERSONTWP — The weather was cold. Erik Christiansen's bat was hot.
Knoch's sophomore left fielder produced two doubles, a home run and five RBIFriday afternoon as the Knights opened the varsity baseball season with an 11-1 triumph over Moniteau at Laura Doerr Park.
His three hits came in as many at-bats.
"That's a pretty good start,"Knoch coach Curt Schnur said. "Erik's only a sophomore, so, hopefully, he has a lot more days like this ahead of him.
"He's got a nice swing. The ability is there. All he needs is the confidence."
The Knights put together a team confidence-builder Friday.
All nine of Knoch's starters reached base at least once during the first two innings. The Knights had 11 hits and 18 baserunners before the 10-run mercy rule cut the game short after the fifth inning.
"We just didn't respond today,"said first-year Moniteau coach Ross Martin. "We have a lot of work to do."
The Warriors did take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Garth Kohlmeyer hit a one-out double, stole third and scored on a Cruz Eshenbaugh ground ball.
But Knoch more than responded in its half of the opening frame.
Jordan Shoop singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on an infield out and scored on Austin Leffler's sacrifice fly.
With two outs and nobody on, the Knights weren't finished. Justin Demek walked, Derrick Clark was hit by a pitch, Travis Miller delivered a run-scoring single before Christiansen smashed a two-run double. Josh Uncapher followed with an RBIdouble of his own.
"That inning snowballed on us. We let it get away," Martin said.
Eshenbaugh started on the mound for Moniteau, but threw 38 pitches in the first inning. He was relieved by Ryan Eberlein after failing to retire any of the first four batters in the second.
The Knights used three pitchers. Zach Mayes tossed the first two frames, Kevin Bacon the middle two and Dan Pickard pitched the final inning.
Bacon struck out the side in the third and fanned the final two Moniteau batters in the fourth after an error and two walks had loaded the bases with one out.
"We're auditioning pitchers to see who's going to help us in section games,"Schnur said. "The big thing is getting ahead of the hitters, throwing that first-pitch strike. For the most part, our guys did that."
Moniteau 100 00x x—1 3 1Knoch 550 1xx x—1 11 1WP: Zach Mayes (2 IP) 2 strikeouts, 1 walk. LP: Cruz Eshenbaugh (1 IP) 1 strikeout, 1 walk
Moniteau (0-1): Garth Kohlmeyer 2B, Cruz Eshenbaugh RBI, Josh Howland 1B, Dakota Campbell 1B
Knoch (1-0): Jordan Shoop 2-1B 2-R, Dan Pickard 2-2BRBI, Austin Leffler RBI, Derrick Clark 2-R, Travis Miller 1B 2-RBI 2-R, Erik Christiansen HR2-2B5-RBI 2-R, Josh Uncapher 2B 1BRBI, Carmen Shullo 2B
Monday: Moniteau atSlippery Rock, Knoch atFord City
