The Knights had revenge on their minds Monday night, as they battled section rival North Catholic in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL 4A baseball playoffs.  In the last week of the regular season, the Knights and Trojans squared off in a 2 game series for the section title, and Knoch fell 10-4 and 2-1.  On Monday night, these 6th seeded Battlin’ Knights came away with a convincing 6-3 win over the 3rd seeded Trojans to earn a shot at #2 seed West Mifflin on Tuesday night in the semifinals.

Angleo DeLeonardis got the start on the mound after going the distance against Uniontown in Round 1 of the playoffs.  The senior right hander didn’t give up a run until the 5th inning, as the Knights offense built an insurmountable lead with 3 runs in the third inning and 3 more in fourth.  DeLeonardis went 5 1/3 innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2.  Sophomore Jacob Stallsmith entered the game in the bottom of the 6th inning with 1 out and a runner on first, put out the fire, and shut NC down in the seventh to earn the save.  The defense was excellent again, and didn't commit an error.  

Knoch went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, and only had one baserunner in the second.  Isaac Roddy drew a walk to lead off the inning, stole second, and advanced to third on a sac bunt by Anthony Grafton, but was stranded at third.  The Trojans got a lead off of double in the bottom half, and added another baserunner with 1 out when DeLeonardis hit the batter.  DeLeonardis worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a foul pop out to catcher Eli Sutton.

The offense got rolling in the third when Dathan Gillis was hit by a pitch with one out and moved to third on a two out line drive single by Brady Wozniak.  Wozniak hustled into 2nd base on the throw to third and set the table for Eli Sutton.  Sutton singled on a 2-2 count to drive Gillis and Wozniak across the plate, and picked up 2 of his 4 RBI’s on the day.  Roddy drew his second walk of the game to put runners at first and second for Luke DiSanti, and DiSanti drove Sutton home on a single to left field to give Knoch a 3-0 lead.  In the bottom half, NC had runners on first and second with two outs, but couldn’t capitalize.

Logan Cypher blasted a triple to the wall in right center to lead off the top of the fourth, and scored on a dropped third strike to Luke Priester.  Priester beat out the throw to first and moved to second on a DeLeonardis single to center field.  Wozniak laid down a beautiful bunt single to load the bases for Sutton, and Sutton delivered again with a 2RBI line drive single to center to put the Knights up 6-0.  DeLeonardis walked the first two batters in the bottom of the fourth, who moved to second and third on a sac bunt.  The Trojans picked up their first run on a ground out to second baseman Priester but DeLeonardis induced another foul pop out to Sutton to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 6th, North Catholic picked up 2 more runs on 3 hits against DeLeonardis, and Stallsmith came in with one out to quiet the Trojans’ bats, as he got outs on a fielder’s choice and groundout back to the mound.

Roddy led off the top of the 7th with a single but would get no further than first base.  In the bottom of the 7th, Stallsmith issued a lead off walk but first baseman Jackson Pacek made a spectacular catch of a line drive and doubled off the runner at first to empty the bases.  It was 3 up and 3 down for the Trojans as the next batter flied out to center fielder Roddy to send your Knoch Knights to the WPIAL semifinals for the first time since their WPIAL and PIAA Championship season of 2015.