Derek Boben has a natural tail on his fastball that often confounds hitters.

It did Tuesday night at Kelly Automotive Park as the Moniteau right-hander struck out 10 A-C Valley hitters in four innings, including six in the first two frames, as the Warriors blanked the Falcons 12-0 in five innings.

But Boben, who will attend Slippery Rock University in the fall, said he is still a work in progress on the mound.

“Velocity,” Boben simply says when asked what he wants to improve. “I want to go (to SRU) and help the team right away. If I want to get big wins even here in high school, I have to be able to throw harder.”

It's not as though Boben is a soft-tosser on the mound; his fastball last season touched the mid-80s.

Boben, though, wants to consistently reach that velocity late in games, and that means hard, arduous work.

“Long toss, stretch bands and weight room,” Boben said. “Have to hit the weight room hard and get bigger.”

Boben threw in the low 80s against A-C Valley Tuesday, but attacked hitters and cruised through his four innings of work.

Boben did walk a batter and gave up a single in the first inning, but settled down to strike out the next two batters to get out of the first unscathed.

He fanned the side again in the second and fourth inning before yielding to Derek Brown, who struck out the side in the fifth to end the game.

Of the 15 outs recorded by the Warriors, 13 came on strikeouts.

That dismayed A-C Valley coach Mike Woodward.

“It's the first time we've seen live pitching this year, but it is frustrating,” Woodward said. “A lot of times we kept the bat on our shoulders — we had six strikeouts looking. You take yourself out of the game when you're not swinging.”

Moniteau gave Boben plenty of run support early with a five-run first inning. After that rocky start, A-C Valley pitcher Noah Morgan also settled down and the Falcons entered the fourth inning down 6-0.

But Moniteau put two unearned runs on the board in the fourth and scored four more runs in the top of the fifth.

Boben continued to simply attack hitters.

“That's the plan all year,” Boben said. “I've been pitching since I was a sophomore in pretty much every big game we've had.”

Boben said Slippery Rock University was always his top destination.

“That's where I wanted to go from the beginning,” Boben said. “Obviously, I was open to going to wherever came my way, but SRU was my first choice and for them to come out and want to get me, it meant the world to me.”

There were times, though, when Boben became frustrated with the recruiting process. Despite his eye-popping pitching numbers last season, (7-0 record and an 0.36 ERA), interest in the right-hander was tepid.

“The recruiting process is something not every kid gets to go through and it was probably one of the most stressful points in my life,” Boben said. “It was aggravating not hearing anything, not hearing anything. Then when the bell rang, (SRU) got a hold of me and it felt good.”

Moniteau also feels good about its prospects this season.

Senior shortstop Aaron Marterella, who had a pair of singles and two RBI against A-C Valley, said the Warriors are confident no matter who is on the hill.

“We know whoever is out there, they're going to give their best,” Marterella said. “We have to support them. We just try to go out and cut the ball in half, find gaps and score runs.

“We have a whole staff that throws the ball well,” Marterella added. “With anyone we feel confident that, hey, if we get two or three runs, we're set.”

There was a scary moment for A-C Valley when third baseman Aaron Busch took a bad hop on a throw to the throat and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

“He had some difficulty breathing (when he got back to the dugout) and you could hear he was labored,” Woodward said. “It didn't sound good from a medical opinion so we thought it best to have him go and get checked out.”

Woodward said he had no update on Busch's condition Tuesday night.

“You could see it starting to swell, so we just wanted to be more safe than sorry,” Woodward said. “He was first-team all-conference last year as a designated hitter. He wanted to go back into the game, but I wasn't going to risk that.”

Moniteau 501 24x x — 12 14 0

A-C Valley 000 00x x — 0 2 3

W: Derek Boben 4IP (10K, 1BB). L: Noah Morgan 4IP (3K, 2BB).

Moniteau (1-0): Josh Adamson 2B 1B, Aaron Marterella 2-1B 2-RBI, Boben 3B, Zack Adamson 1B RBI, Jake Jewart 2B 2-1B 2-RBI, Nick Sosigian 2-1B RBI, J.J. Waid 1B, Lake Pry 1B 2-RBI, Lake Pry 1B RBI, Corey Goyak 1B RBI

A-C Valley (0-1): Dylan Stewart 2-1B

Thursday: Keystone vs. Moniteau, 8:30 p.m. at Kelly Automotive Park; A-C Valley at Redbank Valley