CRESSON, Cambria County — Knoch designated hitter Jordan Kowalski was fired up when he walked up to the plate with two outs in the top of the sixth inning of the PIAA Class AAA baseball semifinals.

Kowalski was the lone Knoch starter without a hit off Donegal pitcher Camren Ney.

Kowalski did join his teammates, lining a Ney offering to the outfield, plating two runs in the Knights' 8-2 win Wednesday at Mount Aloysius College.

“I was 0-for-3 so far on the game and I've been putting in a lot of work hitting at the fields every morning,” Kowalski said. “Of course I wanted a slice of the bread.”

Knoch went through a whole loaf.

The Knights' had a playoff-high 12 hits off Ney, who pitched 5 2/3 innings.

Knoch's previous best was 10 against Belle Vernon in the opening round of the WPIAL playoffs.

During their five playoff games after the game against the Leopards, the Knights (22-2) had 20 hits total.

“It was good. It was like before the playoffs,” said Knights third baseman Garrett Traggiai, who singled in the second and third innings. “We hit a lot and now we're getting back in the swing of things in time for the championship.”

Hitting Ney, who was 9-0 with a 1.38 ERA, wasn't something any other team had done this season.

When the game was postponed a few days due to rain, Knights coach George Bradley scoured for information.

He found a newspaper story where Ney said if his curveball is working, he throws it all the time.

“We worked for the last two days on what the approach was,” Bradley said. “We felt it would be this left-hander and knew he threw a lot of curveballs.”

Knoch started stringing together hits in the second inning.

Asa Adams singled and was picked off after taking a wide turn around second base on a single by Alex Stobert.

Traggiai then singled and Addis Crouch followed with a triple to left field, scoring courtesy runner Dustin Montgomery and Traggiai.

Logan Hickey drove in Crouch with a groundout. Dominick Bucko reached on a single and scored when Chris Law doubled down the right-field line.

“We were trying to stay patient,” said Law, who was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs. “If it was low, we let it go. He was forced to throw us a fastball, then we jumped on a fastball. Most guys hit it right down the line or up the middle. We had perfect timing on them.”

The Knights added four more runs in the sixth inning.

After Crouch walked, Hickey singled and Bucko was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Law then connected with a two-out single.

Kowalski then collected his hit to chase Ney.

The Knights' performance has Law excited to take on District 2 champion Abington Heights at noon Friday for the state title at Penn State University's Lubrano Park.

“We've been trying to get this going the entire year,” Law said. “We've been relying on our defense and pitching. We've been working really hard. This morning, we try to get in the batting cage as much as possible. We brought the bats.”

Batmen Return

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Knoch's baseball team collected a playoff-high 12 hits during its 8-2 win over Donegal in the PIAA Class AAA semifinals Wednesday at Mount Aloysius College. Here's how Knoch did in its other six playoff games:

Opponent Hits

Belle Vernon 10

Montour* 5

Punxsutawney 5

Montour** 4

Blackhawk 3

West Allegheny 3

*WPIAL semifinals

**PIAA quarterfinals