There were two points during Friday's season-opener against Kane when the game could have turned against Karns City's baseball team.

In the top of the fourth and sixth innings, KC faced the bases loaded with just one out. Starter Cole Sherwin and reliever Mallick Metcalfe, respectively, escaped the jams unscathed as the Gremlins won a 5-2 decision at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park.

“We don't have pitchers who are going to light up the radar gun, but they battle,” said KC coach Josh Smith. “That's all we ask our guys to do, battle no matter what the situation is.”

Sherwin's escape act came a half inning after the Gremlins had taken a 2-0 lead. He allowed a single to Carson Whiteman to begin the top of the fourth, Kane's first hit of the game. With one out, he issued free passes to Reese Novosel and Shane Ackley.

Following a visit from pitching coach Dave McElroy, Sherwin struck out Jacob Costanzo and Bob Rumcik to end the threat.

“We basically just talked about mechanics, what I needed to do to get back to throwing strikes,” said Sherwin, who earned the win with five scoreless innings, striking out five and walking five.

By the time the Wolves managed their next threat two innings later, the Gremlin lead was 5-0. Metcalfe relieved Sherwin with two on and no outs. After one out, Costanzo reached on an error to load the bases.

Metcalfe then struck out Rumcik and got Luke Ely to fly out.

“Mallick's just a gamer,” Smith said. “He's a sophomore starting at shortstop for a high school team and that says a lot about him.

“He's definitely going to be in our starting rotation this year, but we wanted to get him some work today.”

Whiteman started on the mound for Kane and looked dominant early, striking out five batters in the first two innings.

He ran into trouble in the third, however, as three straight batters reached base. Conner Schaffner walked with one out and stole second before Sherwin and Metcalfe both reached on infield singles. The latter hit scored the game's first run and Sherwin later scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.

Whiteman got out of the inning, but did not return to the mound in the bottom of the fourth.

“He threw the ball well, but wasn't as efficient as he can be,” said Kane coach Josh Jekielek. “It's the first game and everybody is still getting their work in.”

The Gremlins broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth. Kane reliever Harley Morris hit Metcalfe with a pitch to start the frame. Consecutive errors loaded the bases before Brayden Rodgers drew a walk that forced in KC's third run.

Braden Grossman singled home Mike Neff and Zac Blair later scored on a wild pitch.

The Gremlins finished the game with six hits, but also benefitted from fourwalks and Kane's four errors.

“We got as much live pitching in as we could in practice,” Smith said. “We'll hit the ball. Our guys will go through several pairs of batting gloves this season.”

Kane finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh. Two errors led to RBI-singles from Curt Barner and Novosel.

“We didn't hit at the right time,” said Jekielek. “We find a way to score runs earlier, it could've changed the complexion of the game.”

Kane 000 000 2 — 2 4 4

Karns City 002 030 x — 5 6 4

W: Cole Sherwin 5+ IP (5K, 5BB). L: Carson Whiteman 3 IP (8K, 3BB). S: Mallick Metcalfe 2 IP (1K, 0BB).

Kane (0-1): Curt Barner 1B R RBI, Reese Novosel 1B RBI

Karns City (1-0): Cole Sherwin 2-1B R, Mallick Metcalfe 2-1B R RBI, Braden Grossman 1B RBI

Monday: Brookville at Karns City