When he needed to make a pitch, Jared Fleo did it.

Twice.

The New Castle senior right-hander produced called third strikes with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings Wednesday. The pitches preserved a critical 2-1 baseball win over Knoch at Pullman Park.

The Red Hurricanes moved a half-game in front of the Knights for the third and final playoff spot in Section 1-AAA. Because it has two wins over Knoch, New Castle owns the tiebreaker should they wind up tied for third.

"This pretty much was a playoff game for us," New Castle coach Paul Malley said. "We couldn't afford to drop another game behind them."

Sophomore pitcher G.J. Senchak started for New Castle and allowed one hit, a two-out double to Robert Zanella in the fourth, through five innings. But Senchak ran into trouble in the sixth.

The Knights trailed 2-0 when Andrew Wirtz reached on an infield single with one out. With two outs, Cullen Hinderliter was hit by a pitch and Zanella walked to load the bases.

When Knoch's John DeWalt walked to force in a run, Malley summoned first baseman Fleo the mound.

"G.J.'s pitch count was getting up there (90 pitches) and he was leaving his pitches up," Malley said. "He and Jared are my two best pitchers. I planned on needing both to get through this game."

Fleo got Jeff Kolish on a called third strike to end the sixth inning.

Knoch loaded the bases with two outs again in the seventh on two walks and an infield single by Sam Stone. But Hinderliter looked at a called third strike to end the game.

"It turned out to be a good move, changing pitchers like he did," Knoch coach Curt Schnur said. "That kid pitched himself out of a couple of top spots.

"We were one hit away today. One clutch hit. It just never came."

Both teams stranded nine runners in the contest. Besides the final two innings, Knoch left a runner at third in the second and fourth frames.

"Other than the Hampton game, we've been struggling to get the clutch hit all year," Schnur said.

New Castle scored an unearned run in the second. Emmett Manzo walked and his courtesy runner moved all the way to third on an errant pickoff throw. The run scored on a ground out to second.

The 'Canes added a run in the fifth when Justin Bucci led off with a bunt single, was bunted to second by Justin Fleo and scored on a single to right by Michael Bongivengo.

"We knew we'd have to play some small ball to win today," Malley said. "This was No. 1 vs. No. 1 in pitching."

Nathan Junk went the distance for Knoch, scattering seven hits and striking out six. He threw 121 pitches.

"He struggled a bit today and we made some fielding errors early," Schnur said. "But to hold New Castle to two runs is doing quite a job. Nathan's been solid for us all year."

New Castle 010 010 0 — 2 7 1Knoch 000 001 0 — 1 3 3W: G.J. Senchak (5X\c IP) 3 K, 4 BB.

L: Nathan Junk (7 IP) 6 K, 3 BB.

New Castle (8-7, 6-4): Justin Fleo 2-1B, Michael Bongivengo 2-1B RBI, Chris Ross 1B, Emmett Manzo RBI, Matt DiLorenzo 1B RBI, Justin Bucci 1B

Knoch (6-9, 5-4): Sam Stone 1B, Andrew Wirtz 1B, John DeWalt RBI, Robert Zanella 2B

Today: Knoch at Blackhawk