Aaron Marterella thought he might be taking the mound — he just didn’t know when.

Jake McBride figured he might be producing a key hit at the plate — he just had to wait.

Both figured prominently in Moniteau’s 6-2 baseball victory over Karns City Thursday night — its second win over the Gremlins in three days at Kelly Automotive Park — that handed the Warriors the KSAC South championship.

“As soon as we found out we were playing Karns City Tuesday and Thursday this week, we couldn’t wait for those days to get here,” Marterella said. “We were so ready for this.”

Marterella pitched four scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. His team was trailing 2-1 after three frames.

McBride, Moniteau’s No. 4 hitter, popped up with the bases loaded and no one out in the first inning. He fouled out to the catcher with runners on first and third and one out in the third. The Warriors failed to score in both innings.

“It was frustrating, those at bats,” McBride admitted. “I had chances to help my team win and I didn’t do it.”

But he did it later.

After Derek Boben was hit by a pitch with one out in the fifth, McBride tripled to deep center field to tie the game at two. Kaleb Eshenbaugh then walked, and with runners on second and third, J.J. Waid hit a ground ball to third.

Third baseman Evan Stitt checked the runners, but his throw to first eluded first baseman Cody Deal and two more runs crossed the plate.

“That (triple) felt good. I was able to square up a pitch and drive it,” McBride said.

With two outs in the sixth, Marterella walked and Boben singled to left. McBride’s grounder to second should have ended the inning, but the ball got through Holden Martin and Marterella scored. Eshenbaugh produced a run-scoring single to conclude the scoring.

“You can’t make mistakes against good teams and we did that today,” Karns City coach Randy Collins. “And we paid for them.

“Alessandro pitched a nice game for us. He pitched out of trouble early. We just didn’t help him enough.”

Marotto went the distance on the mound for the Gremlins, striking iout six and throwing 107 pitches. He also had three hits at the plate.

Marterella scattered five hits over the final four innings in relief of Zach Jewart for Moniteau (14-2). He did not walk a batter.

“Zach’s been a solid player for four years for us and he knows it’s a team game,” Moniteau coach Ross Martin said. “I felt we needed a change of pace and Aaron delivered for us.”

“I was surprised I pitched that many innings,” Marterella said. “Zach’s been a good pitcher all year. I thought I might throw two innings tonight, maybe.”

The Gremlins (12-4) had two runners thrown out at third base early in the game. Marotto was cut down trying to stretch a double into a triple to end the bottom of the first. Stitt was thrown out at third while trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt for the first out of the second inning.

“Push the envelope early, try to make things happen,” Collins said. “On both of those, it took a perfect throw, perfect catch and perfect tag to get the outs and Moniteau did that.

“In both situations, I’d do it again.”

Even with those missed opportunities, KC took an early 2-0 lead as Matt Yough doubled to open the second, scoring on a Stitt single, and Cody Deal tripled to begin the third, scoring on Tyler Dunn’s single.

The Gremlins committed four errors on the night, the Warriors only one.

“Our defense has been there all year,” McBride said. “It’s a big part of what we do.”

Moniteau 000 132 0 — 6 9 1

Karns City 011 000 0 — 2 10 4

W: Aaron Marterella 4IP (1K, 0BB). L: Alessandro Marotto 7IP (6K, 3BB).

Moniteau (14-2): Josh McBride 1B 2B, Aaron Marterella 2-1B, Derek Boben 1B 2-R, Jake McBride 3B RBI, Kaleb Eshenbaugh 1B RBI, Cody Skiver 1B, Austin Blauser 1B RBI

Karns City (12-4): Cody Deal 3B, Tyler Dunn 1B RBI, Alessandro Marotta 2B 2-1B, Matt Yough 2B 1B, Evan Stitt 1B RBI, Colin Willams 1B, Holden Martin 1B

Wednesday: District 9 Class AA playoffs at Kelly Automotive Park-Karns City vs. Cranberry, 4 p.m.; Moniteau vs. Johnsonburg, 6:30 p.m.