WEXFORD — Whether Mac Megahan had a catch in the fifth inning may have been in question.

Undoubtedly, Chartiers Valley had plenty of hits in that frame.

The Colts put together seven hits and scored five times in the fifth, snapping a 2-2 tie and producing a 7-2 WPIAL Class AAA first-round baseball victory over Knoch Tuesday at North Allegheny High School.

The inning began with Jake Horew lining a ball to center field that Knoch's Megahan apparently made a lunging catch on. As Megahan rolled over and reached into his glove, the ball popped out.

The first-base umpire called Horew out on the play. After conferring with the third base umpire, the out call stood. When the plate umpire joined the conversation, he ruled Horew safe at first.

“I thought Mac had the ball and lost it when he tried to transfer it to his throwing hand,” Knoch coach George Bradley said. “The only problem I had was that the plate umpire made the eventual call when the two guys closest to the play ruled an out.

“Oh well. ... That's baseball.”

Megahan said he caught the ball.

“Yeah, I had it,” he said. “When I rolled over, I was trying to get the ball out of my glove quickly to get it back in. I fumbled the ball around a little bit.

“It would have helped to have gotten that first out there, but Chartiers Valley really started hitting the ball. They deserved to win.”

Eric Hart followed the controversial single with a run-scoring double to left that snapped the tie. John Kletzli reached on a bunt single. Jimmy Palmer, Brian Jennings, Brian Leipold and Matt Mulvihill all added RBI singles in the frame as the Colts broke the game open.

Chartiers Valley had struggled against Knights starting pitcher Justin Grossman before that fifth inning.

“We were taking a lot of pitches early because we hadn't seen that kid before and we wanted to see what he had,” CV coach Jim Jaskowski said. “We noticed he wasn't using his curveball very much.

“Our hitters started waiting until his fastball got down in the zone a little bit and we timed him up.”

Leipold was the winning pitcher, striking out eight and throwing 108 pitches in six innings. He also contributed three singles and three runs from the No. 9 position in the batting order.

Leipold was making only his third appearance of the season after suffering torn knee ligaments and a broken jaw in a January automobile accident.

“I didn't think we'd get him back all season,” Jaskowski said. “His jaw was wired shut for a while, but he was able to throw a little bit during his rehab. He's a senior and he worked hard to get back.

“We've got three or four good pitchers on this team and he's one of them.”

The Knights scored both of their runs in the first inning. Grossman and Megahan singled and Luke Kroneberg drilled a two-run double. Zach Koller, who walked prior to Kroneberg's at-bat, was thrown out trying to score from first on Kroneberg's double. Leipold threw 31 pitches in the opening inning.

“We knew we were facing a tough pitcher and sometimes you have to get to a guy like that early,” Bradley said. “That's why I chose to send that third runner. To me, it was worth the risk.

“I give their pitcher credit. He was jamming us inside and when we backed off the plate, he came farther inside. The kid did a great job.”

Chartiers Valley had tied the game with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Courtesy runner Tanner Garis scored from first on a single to center to knot the game with two outs in the fourth.

“I gambled in sending him there, but we were struggling to score at that point and that was a critical run at the time,” Jaskowski said.

While the Colts return to North Allegheny to play Blackhawk tonight, Knoch's season ended with a 12-8 record.

“We played hard and we never quit,” Bradley said. “That's all I can ask.”

Char Valley 001 150 0 — 7 11 0

Knoch 200 000 0 — 2 4 2

W: Brian Leipold 6IP (8K, 2BB). L: Justin Grossman 4.2IP (3K, 2BB).

Chartiers Valley (15-6): Dominic Castello 1B RBI, Matt Mulvihill 1B RBI, Jake Horew 2B 1B RBI, Eric Hart 2B RBI, John Kletzli 1B, Jimmy Palmer 2-1B RBI, Brian Jennings 1B RBI, Brian Leipold 3-1B 3-R RB

Knoch (12-8): Justin Grossman 1B, Mac Megahan 1B, Luke Kroneberg 2B 1B 2-RBI