RIMERSBURG — The Union baseball team never seemed to be in the game.

Because of that, the Golden Knights now are out of the District 9 playoffs.

Elk County Catholic sent 10 men to the plate while tallying six hits in a five-run first inning en route to a 15-0, five-inning win in a Class A first-round matchup Tuesday.

Union starter Chase Stewart surrendered eight runs on 10 hits in the first three innings.

"He's normally pretty reliable," Knights coach Alan Carmichael said. "We didn't have two of our pitchers available today. Travis Anthony couldn't play because of a head injury and A.J. Ethriedge is out with an unknown illness.

"Not having them took a lot of emotion out of the team," Carmichael added. "But to Elk County's credit, they are the hardest hitting team I've seen this year."

Both Stewart and Brett Moore, who pitched the final two innings for Union (10-7), were unable to rely on their defense as the Knights committed six errors in the game.

The Crusaders (8-11) wasted no time displaying their potent offense.

Tom Schneider, Jesse Bosnik and Nick Brennen led off the game with a double and two singles, with Schneider and Bosnik scoring for a quick 2-0 lead.

Tom Jovenitti and Matt Schreiber each added RBI singles, with the former later scoring on a fielding error for a 5-0 edge.

Meanwhile, the Knights' offense never was able to match ECC's firepower.

Union's lone two hits came on a first-inning double from Kasey Kriebel and a fifth-inning single by Neil Scott.

Brennen started for ECC and struck out six without walking a batter in three innings.

ECC's Nick Childs pitched two scoreless innings to finish out the game.

Union's best chance to score came in the final frame, when Moore walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third base before being thrown out in an attempt to steal home.

"We just played as flawless a game as you can play," said Crusaders coach Herman Lenze.

Elk Co. Catholic 530 25x x—15 17 0Union 000 00x x— 0 2 6Nick Brennen, Nick Childs (4, 1 K, 2 BB) and Matt Schreiber and Josh Lovenduski; Chase Stewart, Brett Moore (4, 0 K, 3 BB) and Kasey Kriebel.

W: Brennen (6 K, 0 BB).

L: Stewart (2 K, 0 BB).

Elk County Catholic (8-11): Tom Schneider 2-1B 2B 3R SB, Jesse Bosnik 2-1B 2B 3R RBI SB, Kyle Horchen 2-1B 2B 2R 4 RBI

Union (10-7): Kasey Kriebel 2B, Neil Scott 1B, Brett Moore SB