The outcome of a baseball game can come down to one team taking advantage of another's mistakes.

In its Section 1-4A opener at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park, Knoch was on the right side of that equation.

The Knights tallied just five hits in the game, but plated five unearned runs in a 6-3 victory over Derry Wednesday evening.

“One thing we know about Knoch, they're always going to field well. I've seen it many times,” said Derry coach John Flickinger. “We didn't field the ball well today.”

The Trojans held a 2-0 lead when their defense helped the Knights take the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning.

A pair of errors, sandwiched around a walk to Ethan Sloane, loaded the bases with no outs. Sean McGill's single scored Blaze Voltz and Sloane to tie the game. Jack Bartek and Braden Tristani then followed with consecutive run-scoring groundouts for a 4-2 edge.

Another miscue in the fourth helped push across another run. After Isaac Love singled home a fifth run, a throwing error allowed Sloane to come home on the same play.

All of the runs, just one of them earned, were charged to Derry's starting pitcher, Josh Ulery, who was lifted from the game with one out in the fifth.

“They made some blunders and we made them pay,” said Knoch coach Sean O'Donnell. “It wasn't pretty today, but section games are often not pretty. We battled and that was good to see.

Bartek, the game's winning pitcher with eight strikeouts and two walks, worked five innings and gave up two runs to the Trojans in the top of the third. He settled down afterward, working a perfect fourth and fifth. The latter frame ended with a fine diving catch by Sloane in center field.

Guy DeLeonardis came on in relief and kept the Trojan bats silent in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts. His seventh inning proved more taxing.

The junior issued a walk to Austin Siko and allowed a single to Tyler Cymmerman to start the frame. With one out, pinch-hitter Brayden Mickinac singled to load the bases.

Ryan Bushey hit a shallow fly ball to center that Sloane grabbed after a bounce. Mickinac had to hold up at first base, not certain if the ball would be caught in the air and he was forced out at second base. Siko scored on the play, but DeLeonardis induced the next batter, Donte Klapchar, to ground out to end the game with runners stranded at first and third.

“We had Gavin Phillips warming up in the bullpen, but are planning on starting him (Thursday against Yough),” said O'Donnell. “If one more batter would have reached, we probably would have made a change. But I thought Guy could throw strikes to get the job done. That's part of the game. You want to allow young kids the chance to succeed in situations like this if you expect them to do it later in the season.”

Bartek's biggest hurdle of the game came in the third frame.

With two outs and a runner on first, Klapchar drew a walk before Ulery and Zack Karaschak both singled in a run. Bartek closed the door on the inning with a strikeout of Nate Angus.

“I've been watching Bartek pitch for three years now,” said Flickinger. “He didn't have his best stuff today, but we didn't do enough against him.”

“Jack tried to get too fine with his pitches a few times today and that's when he got in trouble,” O'Donnell said. “Other than that, it was typical Jack Bartek. He was around the plate and pitched to contact.”

Derry 002 000 1 — 3 5 4

Knoch 004 200 x — 6 5 0

W: Jack Bartek 5 IP (8K, 2BB). L: Josh Ulery 4.1 IP (3K, 3BB).

Derry (1-2, 0-1): Donte Klapchar 2B R, Josh Ulery 1B RBI, Zack Karaschak 1B RBI, Tyler Cymmerman 1B, Brayden Mickinac 1B

Knoch (4-0, 1-0): Ethan Sloane 2-1B 2R, Isaac Love 1B R RBI, Sean McGill 1B R 2RBI, Eli Sutton 1B

Thursday: Knoch at Yough