By Matt Wallisa

Entering the week, No. 45 Kings High School found itself looking up at No. 23 Loveland and No. 21 Anderson in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference East Division standings. 

With conference title contention on the line, Kings matched up their ace, unsigned senior southpaw Ben Glischnski, against Anderson senior Nick Mason (Parkland College recruit).

And, the matchup led to a quick-paced, pitching dominant game.

The Anderson offense managed their first hit off Glischniski in the 5th inning when senior Matt O'Connel  lead off with a single. In an effort to advance O'Connel to second, Anderson attempted to bunt him over, but Glischinksi came hard off the mound and managed to throw out the lead runner at second base. The unsigned senior would then retire the following batters in order to eliminate the Anderson threat. 

Looking to end the scoreless drought in the 6th inning, Anderson once again found itself with a runner on first base as junior Jonah Daiker lead off the inning with a walk. Following Daiker, Sean Beebe laid down a bunt for a hit placing runners on first and second without any outs. 

In an impressive effort, Glischniski responded by striking out the the third batter of the inning to register the first out.  However, the strikeout was followed up by a wild pitch on the next batter, which would advance both runners into scoring position. With Anderson threatening, Glischniski and the Kings defense managed to record two more outs and escape the 6th inning scare. 

Finally, in the bottom of the 7th, Kings found its chance to score off Mason, who showed his dominance over the course of his complete game. Sophomore Josh Woody started the inning by advancing to first base as he was plunked by one of Mason's pitches. Woody later advanced to second base due to a sacrifice bunt by senior Nick Bellemen. Soon after, junior Joe Shumar delivered a walk-off single to left field that drove in Woody and put Kings on top 1-0.

While each pitcher registered a complete game, Glischinski came away with the shut-out win. He allowed one hit while striking out 6 batters. His fastball sat at 81-82 mph. His curveball, which registered at 72-73 mph, and his change up, which registered at 70 mph, kept the Anderson batters off balanced throughout the game.

Anderson's Mason took the loss. He struck out six batters in the losing effort. His fastball topped out at 85 mph. He showed effective command of a 74 mph curveball and a 70 mph change up.

Kings will be back in action tomorrow as they host Northwest and Anderson will try to bounce back from the loss in a rematch against Kings on Wednesday.