PLUM — It seemed as though runs would be hard to come by for Freeport’s baseball team in Thursday’s WPIAL Class 3A first-round playoff against South Allegheny.

After all, the Yellowjackets were facing Gladiators’ ace pitcher Adam Jackowski, who brought a 6-0 record and 0.90 ERA into the game.

But Freeport immediately made the freshman feel uncomfortable on the mound.

Four of the ‘Jackets’ first five batters reached base in the bottom of the first inning, with Zach Clark and Jack Smetak both driving in a run with a single. Jonathan Hotalski’s sacrifice fly brought in another run and the early 3-0 lead set the pace for a 9-2 victory at Plum High School.

“South Allegheny is a good team, but being aggressive at the plate is our game and we weren’t going to change for the playoffs,” said Freeport coach Ed Carr.

Aggressive bats and swinging at bad pitches are two different things and Freeport walked that tightrope very efficiently. They let Jackowski quickly know he would need to be in the zone as Brady Stivenson drew a leadoff walk in the first frame.

Free passes haunted the Gladiators all evening. Jackowski and relievers Trenton Popovich and Logan Helster combined to walk nine batters.

And when pitches were in the strike zone, the ‘Jackets did something with them. A walk to Dylan Stonebraker in the second inning was followed by a sacrifice bunt from Malik Febinger. Stivenson then made it 4-0 with an RBI-single.

Jackowski later allowed an unearned run. He got out of the inning, but was not on the mound for the bottom of the third.

“He had walked just 13 guys all year,” Clark said of Jackowski, “but when he threw a first-pitch strike, we attacked it.”

Freeport’s lead swelled to 8-0 after three innings, more than enough offense with junior Matt Corfield on the mound. He did not allow a hit until Josh Nesky and Jaxson Champ had back-to-back base hits to start the sixth. That’s when he left the mound after striking out six and walking four.

“He’s usually really good with throwing strikes early in the count, but struggled a bit with that today,” Carr said. “I think maybe it was nerves.”

Corfield was charged with a second run when Mason Campano’s sacrifice fly scored courtesy runner Caleb Jackowski with Clark on the mound.

Clark closed out the win with a scoreless seventh.

“All the credit goes to Matt,” Clark said. “He was awesome today and set things up perfectly for me to come in.

“I also have to give credit to our catcher, Tyler Asti. He does a great job back there.”

The Gladiators finish the season at 12-8.

“We had won nine of our last 10 games coming into today,” said South Allegheny coach Gib Pohodich. “I was hoping we could ride with that, but Freeport was the better team.”

The Yellowjackets (15-5) will face top-seeded Riverside in the quarterfinals at a site, date and time to be determined.

South Allegheny 000 101 0 — 2 3 2

Freeport 323 010 x — 9 8 1

WP: Matt Corfield 5+ IP (6K, 4BB). LP: Adam Jackowski 2 IP (2K, 2BB).

South Allegheny: Sawyer Pribanic 1B, Josh Nesky 1B, Jaxson Champ 1B, Mason Campano 2RBI

Freeport: Brady Stivenson 2-1B 2R 2RBI, Zach Clark 1B R 2RBI, Jack Smetak 1B R RBI, Michael Hanz 1B 2B R, Jonathan Hotalski 1B R RBI, Dylan Stonebraker 1B 2R RBI

Next: Riverside vs. Freeport, WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal, TBA