Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
FRANKLIN FURNACE — The bigger the game, the better Jon Knapp performs.
Green’s dynamic ace hasn’t faced a ton of trouble this year and, although Notre Dame gave him a few issues on Monday night, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t overcome.
The senior hurler tossed a complete game, allowing just four hits and an earned run while striking out 13 batters. That performance gave the Bobcats (15-2, 5-1 SOC I) a 2-1 victory over the Titans in league play.
“It definitely was a battle. Most of the time, when we battle with those guys, that’s what we’re going to get. It’s going to be a tight game where the team that makes the fewest errors wins,” Green coach Dave Shoupe said. “Definitely a critical win. In the race, we needed that. Hopefully, that will give us some momentum. We have a tough week and will need a lot of our arms to be ready. Jon didn’t have his best stuff today, but did a good job finding where the umpire liked it in the zone and did enough for the win.”
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Knapp only ran into serious trouble twice in the game. But the first time proved costly.
Following a leadoff walk to Notre Dame’s Sawyer Rutman, Luke Cassidy stepped up two batters later and took the first pitch for a ride to the right field fence, legging out an RBI triple for a 1-0 lead.
However, Knapp made up for it.
With runners on second and third, and one out in the bottom half of the inning, he notched a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game at 1-1.
Two innings later, once again with runners on second and third and just one out, it was Noah McMackin coming through with a sacrifice fly to put the Bobcats ahead 2-1.
“We always want to put the ball in play and get on base, no matter how it gets done,” McMackin said. “You don’t want to strand a lot of base runners out there. You want to get them in, so however we can do it, we’re happy to do what we can, and that’s something our entire team takes pride in.”
That was all the run support Knapp needed.
Notre Dame (10-7, 3-3 SOC I) gave him his second scare in the top of the fourth. A leadoff walk followed by a single from Jaxon Stombock put ducks on the pond with no outs.
They both advanced 90 feet but, despite the threat, Knapp fired back-to-back strikeouts before a groundout ended the inning. That was the closest the Titans would get to scoring again throughout the rest of the night.
Knapp fired a pair of strikeouts in the sixth and one more in the seventh before a groundout and a pop fly put the game on ice, moving the Bobcats a win closer to clinching the SOC I title.
“It was a relief to get past two of their best hitters in the fourth,” Knapp said. “I knew that I had to change my mentality and worry about getting the guys in front of me out. Having the opportunity to play them again this week, or when we can play, is huge. If we can win that game, that’ll be a huge momentum boost going into postseason play.”
Knapp was 1-for-3 at the dish with a double and an RBI, while McMackin was 1-for-2 with an RBI.
For Notre Dame, Bryce McGraw took the loss in six innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs and striking out six batters. Cassidy was 1-for-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Green took a 3-2 loss to Northwest on Tuesday while Notre Dame scored a 5-1 victory over Oak Hill the same evening. Both teams square off against one another at Notre Dame on Thursday.
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