Moniteau hit early and often in Tuesday's Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference baseball game against Karns City Tuesday.

The Gremlins couldn't do the same.

Moniteau rapped out 12 hits between the second and sixth innings, plating nine runs in the process, en route to a 9-2 victory at Pullman Park.

"The first couple of games, it seemed we were asleep," said Warriors coach Ross Martin. "Today, everyone chipped in and we have a lot of sophomores who have stepped up big, especially at the bottom of the order then turn around to the top."

"We just didn't hit the ball," Gremlins coach Travis Twentier noted. "We've played in a lot of close games this year and got the big hit.

"I didn't think we pitched that poorly. A couple of pitches got elevated and they hit them," Twentier added.

Moniteau's Heath Lominski opened the second inning with an infield single and Zach Wheeler followed with a walk. Josh Stockert lined an opposite-field single to drive in Lominski.

A fielder's choice off the bat of Brayden McCorry plated another run, then, two batters later, Aaron Shreve smacked an RBI triple to stake the Warriors to a 3-0 lead.

Wheeler then made it 4-0 with a two-out sacrifice fly in the third.

Karns City sliced the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning, when, with two outs and the bases loaded, the Gremlins' Brad Francis lined a two-run double down the third-base line off Warriors starter Jereme Ritts.

Any momentum the Gremlins might have picked up faded when the Warriors answered with another three-spot in the fourth inning to take a 7-2 lead.

A McCorry single was followed by a double by Joe Holfelder. McCorry scrambled home on an overthrow to second base.

Shreve followed with a single to put runners on the corners before Brandon Bonzo hit a sacrifice fly.

One out later, Tony Campbell had a two-out, run-scoring single.

Karns City was looking to cut into the Warriors' lead when it loaded the bases with one out in the fourth and fifth innings, but it couldn't plate any runs.

In the fourth, Ritts fanned Eric McCue, then on a wild pitch, courtesy runner Tyler Slagle broke for home, but catcher Lominski made a perfect toss to Ritts, who tagged out Slagle for the final out.

In the fifth, three walks by reliever Campbell loaded the bases, but McCorry came in to strike out Ethan Williams, then got Zach Kepple to ground out.

Moniteau closed the scoring in the sixth when, again, with two outs, Campbell had an RBI triple and Lominski an RBI single.

"We had a couple of hiccups in the game, when (Karns City) got on base with some walks, but our defense needed to make the routine plays and they did," said Martin.

Moniteau 031 302 0 — 9 12 1Karns City 002 000 0 — 2 4 1W: Jereme Ritts 4 IP (3 K, 3 BB).

LP: Brian Best 4 IP (1 K, 1 BB).

Moniteau (2-4): Brandon Bonzo 1B, RBI; Tony Campbell 2-1B, 3B, 2 RBI; Zach Wheeler RBI; Josh Stockert 1B, RBI; Brayden McCorry 1B, RBI; Joe Holfelder 2B; Aaron Shreve 1B, 3B, RBI

Karns City (3-2, 1-1): Zach Barney 1B; Brad Francis 2B, 2 RBI; Zach Kepple 1B; Nick Ganter 1B

Thursday: Moniteau at West Forest; Karns City at Redbank Valley