Silver linings are hard to come by in 9-1 losses. But the Knoch baseball team discovered a big one in a loss to Hampton.

A 6-foot, 3-inch tall one.

Trailing 6-0 with one out in the top of the second, Knoch coach George Bradley turned to freshman left-hander Cole Shinsky.

All the lanky lefty did was shut down Hampton for 5 1-3 innings, striking out five, walking just one and allowing only one earned run.

Hampton, though, did all the damage it needed in the first inning, scoring four runs on the way to the 9-1 win for the Talbots at Pullman Park.

Still, Talbot coach Matt Torrence was impressed with Knoch's freshman hurler.

“It was hard to see from my vantage point, but the guys were telling me he was a nightmare for them,” Torrence said. “He had a pretty good curveball. He was throwing in all different kinds of counts and he had a good fastball to go with it.”

Shinsky also peppered in a changeup that impressed Bradley.

“On a bright side, we learned a lot. That was a ninth-grader who pitched and he did a good job,” Bradley said. “He just hasn't had an opportunity and (when we fell behind) I thought, 'let's see how he does against the big boys.' He did very very well.

“Did you see his change-up?” Bradley added. “He was getting those guys spun around on it. He throws hard enough to make that change-up an effective pitch and he's been working on it.”

Hampton (8-1, 4-0) got its own stellar pitching performance from Ben Vey.

The right-hander went six innings and gave up just four hits and one run while striking out five.

He walked consecutive Knoch batters in the bottom of the first inning, but then started a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the frame.

Vey also worked out of a jam in the fifth when he put runners on the corners with no outs, but got out of the inning with only one run crossing the plate.

Vey pitched with ease after getting staked to a 4-0 lead before he even toed the rubber.

“We came out hitting the ball well, which was good,” Torrence said. “What we always talk about is if you come out with a big lead like that, you have to throw strikes. He struggled early with that, but he really settled in.”

Derek Layo pitched a perfect seventh to end the game for the Talbots.

“We knew we had some talent. We knew our pitching was good enough to win games this year,” Torrence said. “We just didn't know about our hitting. Our hitting was the big question mark.”

Question answered.

Knoch (3-5, 2-2) has some questions now, too. After winning their first two section games, the Knights have dropped two in a row with games against Kittanning (Wednesday) and Mars (Thursday) looming ahead this week.

“Thomas Jefferson once said, 'being defeated often times is a temporary condition,'” Bradley said. “'Giving up is what makes it permanent.' What I liked about today is they never gave up. The Knoch baseball team is not going to quit this year. You can take that to the bank.”

Hampton 421 100 1 — 9 10 1

Knoch 000 010 0 — 1 4 2

W: Ben Vey 6IP (5K, 3BB). L: Gavin Miller 1.2IP (2K, 1BB).

Hampton (8-1, 4-0): Charlie Winek 1B, Tommy Radzminski 1B, Zach Staszak 3-1B 2-RBI 3-R, Vey 2B RBI, Core Michalek 1B, Steve Dayton 1B 2-RBI, Dan Gryzbek 3B RBI, Troy Merigliano 2B RBI

Knoch (3-5, 2-2): Hunter Balliet RBI, Chase Voltz 1B, Hyte Eurich 1B, Andy Fritz 2B, Ty Smith 1B

Wednesday: Knoch at Kittanning