Alex Stobert struggled with his command early and late in his start against Kittanning.

In the middle innings, though, the Knoch sophomore right-hander cruised, helping the Knights to a 6-3 section win over the Wildcats at Kelly Automotive Park Wednesday afternoon.

“The kid stymied us in the middle. We couldn’t get anything going there in the middle of the game,” said Kittanning coach John Davis of Stobert, who didn’t allow a hit in innings two through six.

Stobert gave up an early run, keyed by a double by Shaun Shaner, but settled down to strike out six in six innings of work.

He started the seventh inning, but was relieved by Gavin Miller after giving up a walk and single to the first two batters he faced.

“A little rough, but he’s only a sophomore and he’s just starting out,” said Knoch coach George Bradley. “He wouldn’t admit it, but he had butterflies and that sort of thing.”

Stobert kept the Kittanning hitters off balance after the early hiccup, retiring nine in a row at one point.

His offense gave him all the offensive support he would need in the bottom of the first inning as Knoch scored four runs, keyed by a two-run double by designated hitter Caleb Thorn and an RBI double by Garrett Traggiai.

“Fortunately, our guys were able to come back in the beginning, even though we were down by one,” Bradley said. “Alex pitched well.”

Thorn finished 2-for-3 at the plate and Traggiai also drove in three runs, adding a run-scoring single in the third inning to give Knoch a 5-1 lead and a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to put the Knights up 6-1.

Bradley was particularly pleased with how his team played smart baseball — moving runners up in key situations and taking good approaches at the plate.

“We work a lot on our two-strike swings and on situational hitting,” Bradley said. “I was very happy we were able to move runners over. That’s not an easy thing to do, especially for high school kids. Even at the Major League level, guys struggle with it.”

Kittanning (1-3, 0-1), with several freshmen and sophomores in its lineup, made things interesting in the top of the seventh. The Wildcats loaded the bases with no one out before Miller was able to get out of the jam with only two runs scoring.

“My freshman class is probably one of the best freshmen classes I’ve had since I’ve been at Kittanning,” said Davis, who has been with the Wildcats for seven years. “We’ll battle. We’ve battled in every game. Unfortunately, we had a bad first inning and we dug a little hole for ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Knoch (3-2, 2-0) is sitting atop the section standing with two more league games today and Friday.

“I feel good about how we are playing,” he said. “I think we’ll be ready.”

Kittanning 100 000 2 — 3 5 0

Knoch 401 010 x — 6 8 0

W: Alex Stobert 6IP (6K, 6BB). L: Christian Miller 3IP (0K, 4BB).

Kittanning (1-3, 0-1): Zane Dudek 1B, Sam Keibler 1B, Shaun Shaner 2B RBI, Miller 1B, Nash Matson 1B

Knoch (3-2, 2-0): Hyte Eurich 2-1B, Chris Law 1B, Zachary Junk 1B RBI, Caleb Thorn 2B 1B 2-RBI, Garrett Traggiai 2B 1B 2-RBI

Today: Knoch at Valley