The Knoch baseball team has been all about getting off to fast starts this season.

After losing its first section game last year, the Knights spent most of the campaign in catch-up mode.

In 2018, everyone else is trying to catch up with Knoch, which with a 9-4 win Tuesday afternoon over Yough at Kelly Automotive Park remained undefeated.

“That's something we didn't do last year,” said Knoch coach Sean O'Donnell. “Having a 2-0 section start is always a good thing.”

So is having a 4-0 lead after one inning.

That's what the Knights (5-0, 2-0) quickly built against a sloppy Cougar team that committed seven errors — four in that first frame.

Jake Herrit and Ethan Sloane each had doubles as Knoch took advantage of the Yough miscues.

“I was happy that we jumped on them early,” O'Donnell said. “They have a young team and it's important that you jump on them early and get them out of the game early. But credit to them, they kept fighting.”

Herrit was masterful on the mound early, striking out four in the first three innings and allowing just one hit, but he ran into trouble in the fourth.

Herrit gave up a single and a double to Mike Bell and Noah Manns to back-to-back at-bats and a fielding error allowed a run to score.

Herrit, though, settled down and fanned the final two batters he faced to get out of the frame.

The right-hander, who is headed to Gannon University next year to play football, pitched four innings, striking out six and giving up one unearned run.

“Having a lead makes pitching a lot easier,” Herrit said, smiling.

Herrit is also grinning about the way the Knights have started the season.

“It feels good establishing our dominance,” Herrit said. “Baseball is all about confidence. Just like if you go 3-for-3 at the plate, you're going to have confidence and we're pretty confident right now.”

Knoch's hitters are exuding aplomb as well.

The Knights have already scored 42 runs in five games this season.

“I'm pretty confident in our whole lineup hitting the ball,” O'Donnell said. “It's nice to have a lineup like that because we know we're going to score.”

Knoch extended its lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a two-run triple by Herrit, who went 2-for-3, and a RBI infield singe by Andy Pipes.

Despite committing seven errors, Yough also turned three double plays.

“You could tell when they started making some plays they were starting to get confidence,” O'Donnell said of Yough.

O'Donnell turned to a couple of young pitchers to get the final nine outs.

Freshman Gavin Phillips pitched a scoreless fifth inning and sophomore Guy DeLeonardis worked the final two innings.

DeLeonardis ran into trouble in the sixth inning, giving up three runs — two earned.

He settled in the seventh after giving up a leadoff double and struck out the next two batters before getting the final out on a weak tapper in front of the plate to end the game.

“I wanted to try to get those guys some work in there and they battled,” O'Donnell said. “Gavin is a good freshman and he does some good things for us. Pitching, shortstop, the outfield, he does a lot of things for us.

“As sporadically as we're playing we wanted to get a couple of those guys some innings,” O'Donnell added. “I thing Guy was more confident in the second game.”

Herrit said he and the older players have made it a point to help along the younger players on the team.

The Knights made need those spare arms at times this season because of the poor weather that caused several postponements.

“We treat them like they're seniors,” Herrit said. “We try to help them as much as we can.”

Yough 000 103 0 — 4 8 7

Knoch 400 311 x — 9 6 2

W: Jake Herrit 4IP (6K, 3BB). L: Scott Houseman 1IP (1K, 2BB).

Yough (1-2, 1-1): Dom Koch 3-1B RBI, Steve Manon 2B, Jarret Bach 1B, Mike Bell 2-1B, Noah Manns 2B

Knoch (5-0, 2-0): Herrit 2B 3B 2-RBI, Andy Pipes 2-1B RBI, Ben McMillen 3B RBI, Ethan Sloane 2B RBI, Isaac Love RBI

Tuesday: Knoch at Greensburg-Salem