The Bulldogs have a balanced lineup capable of driving in those runners once they get in scoring position.

On Monday afternoon in District 6 Class 1A quarterfinal action, third-seeded Claysburg was able to combine timely hitting with stolen bases, sacrifice fly outs and bunts as well as a strong pitching performance from its duo as it was able to advance with a 12-2 victory over 11th-seeded Purchase Line at Bulldog Stadium.

“We wanted to continue to play our baseball — steal, get guys over, situational hitting, bunting when we needed to,” Claysburg-Kimmel coach Kyle Glass said. “That’s what we did all year, and that’s something I told these kids we’re not going to change just because it’s the playoffs. We just kept doing the same things.”

Claysburg-Kimmel will travel to second-seeded Northern Cambria, a 6-2 winner over Conemaugh Valley, on Friday at 4 p.m.

Nathan Fee eludes a tag at second for a stolen base against Purchase Line. Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers

The C-K offense had 12 of the 18 hitters who reached base come around to score, while the Dragons had just two of their 12 touch home.

The Bulldogs jumped all over Purchase Line ace Christian Moyer in the first inning.

Moyer, who picked up six of the seven victories for the Dragons throughout the season, gave up nine earned runs, eight hits, struck out two, walked two, had two wild pitches and hit two batters through three-plus innings of work.

Mason Campagna led off with a double before Brayden Haney drove him home with a two-bagger.

Gavin Treon walked and both he and Haney moved up on a wild pitch. Dustin Slowik lifted a sacrifice fly to center field which allowed Haney to trot home and Treon to move to third.

Treon took advantage of Moyer’s awareness as he stole home to put C-K up 3-0 with Ayden Soler at the plate.

“That kid (Moyer) is a great pitcher. They (Purchase Line) had seven wins, and I think he had six of their wins,” Glass said. “So, we knew he was a great pitcher. We weren’t sure what they had around him though.”

Slowik, who earned the win, struck out the side in the second, before getting more run support in the bottom half as Nate Fee singled to right, stole second, moved to third on Nathan Cox’ sacrifice bunt and then crossed the plate when Campagna lifted a deep sac fly to the outfield for a 4-0 Bulldogs lead.

Slowik was able to get out of a jam in the third as he left the bases loaded when he got Ryan Matko to ground to Haney at short who stepped on second and threw to Blake Claar at first to end the inning.

C-K took a five-run lead in the third when Slowik got a ball to drop near the right fielder’s glove and good baserunning had him on second.

Soler grounded out to push Slowik to third and then Paydden Knisely hit a ball back to first base that allowed Slowik to score.

Slowik got the first two outs of the fourth before a walk and pair of errors by Knisely allowed the bases to get loaded.

Dragons’ leadoff hitter Matt Johnson lined a single to left to chase Conner Goss home to make the score 5-1.

Treon came on in relief and immediately struck out Tyler Buterbaugh to end the inning.

Claysburg-Kimmel responded in a big way with four runs in the bottom half of the fourth to take a commanding 9-1 edge.

“They (Claysburg-Kimmel) laid a lot of bunts down and we weren’t expecting that,” Purchase Line coach Scott Stein said. “The base running that they had was phenomenal.”

Cox doubled to lead off the inning, and then Haney was hit by a Moyer pitch for the second time with one out.

Treon delivered an RBI single to left that allowed Fee to score and Haney to advance to second.

Slowik smacked an RBI single that Haney scored on and got Treon to third and Slowik to second on the throw to third.

Soler’s infield single moved Slowik to third, and then Soler got himself in a run down between first and second. Slowik moved to home and when Anthony Mountain hesitated due to uncertainty, Slowik scored and Soler eventually got tagged out.

“We’ve had great guys in those top couple of spots all year,” Glass said. “But I kept telling these guys that the bottom half of the order that it was up to those guys. … Those guys in the lower half showed up today.”

Leading 9-1, Treon gave up a leadoff single to Moyer, and he went to second on Marlo’s single and Moyer would earn the second run of the contest for Purchase Line on a fielder’s choice.

“We are a young team (with only two seniors), and we were down this season to other teams and we just kept battling and battling and plugging away,” Stein said. “I was hoping that we could come back there and make it a closer game — at least a full game. But we came up short and, therefore, our season we are done.”

Claysburg-Kimmel was blanked for the only time in the bottom of the fifth as it was retired in order.

After giving up a leadoff single in the sixth, Treon set down the next three Dragon batters.

Taking a 9-2 lead into the bottom half of the sixth, Campagna was hit by a pitch from Buterbaugh to start the inning, then stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch.

Haney drove home Campagna before swiping second and third, and then Treon reached on a single.

Haney moved to third on a steal and trotted home on an error on the catcher’s throw down.

Treon moved up on second on the same sequence and then stole third on the next pitch before Soler laid a great bunt down the first base line that allowed him to reach first but more importantly gave the speedy Treon the opportunity to score the final run that ended the game in mercy rule fashion.

The Bulldogs swiped eight bases as Treon had three, Haney had three, while Fee and Campagna added one each.

Slowik and Treon each gave up three hits, one earned run combined, while Slowik fanned five and Treon two.

“Gavin and Bubba (Slowik) are a great 1-2 punch,” Glass said. “They don’t usually pitch much together in the regular season because we’ve got to spread them out playing three or four games a week. But, whenever they are back-to-back, I love that 1-2 punch.”

PURCHASE LINE (2): Johnston ss-2b-ss 302, Cessna dh 200, Buterbaugh 1b-p-2b 200, Moyer p-3b 212, R. Perruso cr 000, Matko lf 301, Lotson rf 200, Ligas rf 100, S. Perruso cf 300, Mountain 3b-1b 200, Goss 3b 010, Ayers 1b 000, Stein 2b-c 201, Sheredy c-ss-p 300. Totals — 25-2-6.

CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (12): Campagna c 221, Haney ss 232, Treon cf-p 332, Slowik p-1b 222, Soler rf-cf 302, Knisely 3b 300, Fee lf 312, Lehman dh 200, Claar 1b 000, Tremel rf 000, Cox 2b 211. Totals — 22-12-12.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Purchase Line 000 110 2–2 6 2

Claysburg-Kimmel 311 403 X–12 12 4

E–Lotson, Stein, Knisely 2, Haney, Treon. 2B–Campagna, Haney, Fee, Cox. RBI–Johnston, Ligas, Soler 3, Haney 2, Slowik 2, Campagna, Treon, Knisely. SB–Haney 3, Treon 3, Campagna, Fee. WP–Moyer 2, Sheredy, Slowik.

PITCHING

Purchase Line: Moyer (L) –3 1/3 innings, 8 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 9 R, 9 ER, 79 pitches. Buterbaugh — 1 2/3 innings, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 12 pitches. Sheredy — 0 innings, 3 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 ER, 13 pitches.

Claysburg-Kimmel: Slowik (W) — 3 2/3 innings, 3 H, 5 K, 3 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 70 pitches. Treon — 2 1/3 innings, 3 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 30 pitches.

Records: Purchase Line (7-14); Claysburg-Kimmel (14-7).