GREENUP, Ky. — A rocky start turned into a smooth ride for the St. Joseph Flyers.

Pat Gagai made his first start and got the win for the Flyers who breezed past the Harvest Christian Warriors 15-5 Monday.

Gagai — who struggled with his control early — Chad Harvey and Payton Blair limited the Warriors to three hits.

“Most of his walks were in the first couple of innings, but then he settled down and started throwing strikes. He hasn’t thrown much, so he really didn’t do a bad job,” said Bryant

The Flyers (3-2) used a two-out rally to score twice in the first inning.

Harvey walked, stole second base and went to third when Caleb Blackburn singled. After Blackburn stole second, Jerrod Laber reached on an error as the runners scored.

Harvest Christian got a run in the bottom of the first inning, but the Flyers came back with two in the second.

Dylan Klein walked and courtesy runner Anthony Whaley moved up on a wild pitch, Joey Basedow walked and David Crossan singled to load the bases. Harvey followed with a two-run single.

St. Joseph opened up a 9-1 lead with five runs in the third inning.

Harvey tripled in one run to highlight the rally. The Flyers used singles by Laber and Joe “The Shoe” Unger, a hit batsman and two errors to aid the uprising.

Harvest Christian got two runs in the third and one in the fourth, but St. Joseph put the game away with six runs in the sixth.

Laber belted a two-run triple and Crossan and Blair each had two-run singles to trigger the scoring outburst.

Harvey went 2-2, Crossan 2-3, and Laber and Blackburn 2-4 to key the Flyers’ offense.

St. Joseph225006=15123

Harvest102101=533

Pat Gagai, Chad Harvey (4), Payton Blair (6)and Dylan Klein, Pat Gagai (4). Sparks, Riffe (6) and Riffe, Elkins (6). W-Gagai (3-K, 7-BB). L-Sparks. 3B-St. Joseph: Chad Harvey, Jerrod Laber. Hitting-St. Joseph: Payton Blair 1-4, Gagai 1-5, Chad Harvey 2-2, Caleb Blackburn 2-4, Jerrod Laber 2-4, Joe Unger 1-3, Dylan Klein 1-1, David Crossan 2-3; Harvest Christian: Daniel Hudson 1-2, Falls 1-3, Riffe 1-2.

Symmes Valley 5

Latham Western 0

AID — Two against one may not seem fair, but it worked for the Symmes Valley Vikings and that’s all that mattered to coach Chad Renfroe.

Kris Tibbs and Robbie Powell teamed up to limit the Western Indians to one hit as they out-dueled Zach Kier in the Vikings’ 5-0 Southern Ohio Conference win Monday.

“We played good defense and got good pitching,” said Renfore. “(Zach) Kier is the best pitcher we’ve face, but we were able top push across five runs.”

Western’s only hit was a first inning double.

The Vikings got the only run they really needed in the third inning when Dustin Wilson reached on a missed third strike, went to second on a passed ball, took third on a throwing error, and came home when Ethan Wilson grounded out.

The lead went to 3-0 in the fourth inning.

Jeremy Hatfield singled, stole second, Luke Taylor singled and stole second, and Tibbs singled home both runners.

Symmes Valley (3-2, 2-0) added a run in the fifth and sixth innings.

In fifth, Wilson tripled and Powell singled. Brice Sexton walked, stole second, and came around to score on an error in the sixth inning.

Western0000000=013

Symmes Valley001211x=560

Zach Kier and Brad Rupert. Kris Tibbs (1-H, 6-BB, 4K), Robbie Powell (4) and Cody Bland. W-Powell (6-K, 2-BB). L-Kier (12-K, 2-BB). 2B-Western: Downey; SV: Kris Tibbs. 3B-SV: Ethan Wilson. Hitting-Western: Downey 1-1; Symmes Valley: Kris Tibbs 1-3, Ethan Wilson 1-3, Robbie Powell 1-3, Luke Taylor 2-3.