TORONTO – Veteran Toronto head coach Brian Perkins used two words to sum up his Red Knights 18-8 victory over Harrison Central Friday – disciplined and resilient.

Toronto, which found itself in an 8-3 hole in the fourth inning, scored the final 15 runs – including 10 in the sixth inning to end the game via the 10-run rule – in the battles of previously unbeaten teams for a 3-0 start to the season on the new turf inside the Knights Baseball Complex.

“We had a tough one the other night, too, and these guys just never give up,” Perkins said. “They’ve proven they’re resilient. They have a lot of fight in them, and I wouldn’t expect anything else from them.”

Red Knights batters plated five runs – three in the game-deciding sixth inning onslaught – by drawing a walk or being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. All-in-all, the Toronto drew eight free passes, taking several other bases by steal or taking advantage of Huskies fielding miscues.

“I was very happy with our approach at the plate,” Perkins said. “Our kids were really disciplined at the plate and worked the counts. We had their pitcher up in the pitch count and it worked out for us. Our kids put the ball in play and made things happen.

“We preach plate discipline all the time and the guys buy in, it’s a credit to them.”

With his team trailing by three runs and the bases loaded, Caleb Leasure got the ball from Perkins with two outs and the task of getting out the jam. He did, then held Harrison Central (2-1) off the board in the top of the sixth, earning the win for his 1 1/3 innings of work.

He also went 2 for 2 with three RBIs and a walk at the plate, including a two-run single in the sixth inning.

“Caleb did a great job coming in and just throwing strikes,” Perkins said. “He attacked the batters and put the ball in play for us to make plays behind him, and that’s a good recipe for winning.”

Avery Wiegand, who started on the mound going the first 3 1/3 innings, striking out three, walking six and being charged with seven of the Huskies’ runs, made his impact at the plate, going 3 for 4 with RBI. He reached on an error during his other at bat.

Five Red Knights – Dominic Bouscher, Evan Walter, Chris Parker, Brycen Miller and Brant Reeves – finished with two RBIs.

The Huskies bid to continue their unbeaten start looked promising through three and a half innings, as they jumped out to an 8-3 lead thanks to a four-run top of the fourth, with a two-run single to left by Sam Santille providing the highlight.

However, the Huskies had committed two errors – finishing with four in the game – and eventually the mistakes started to pile up, culminating in the flood gates bursting open in the sixth.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a game tied going to the sixth inning that ended in a 10-run rule,” Harrison Central head coach Mike Valesko said. “Even before that sixth inning, we didn’t deserve to win that game. You get picked off three times on the bases, we had us down for five errors, we made a handful of mental errors, against a program like Toronto, you’re not going to have many chances to win doing that.

“We gave away so many opportunities. You can get away with that against a bad team, but, against a team like Toronto, they’re so coached-up, any mistake that you give them will turn into a run – a mistake in the field will turn into a run against or a mistake on the base path will turn into costing a run for. It’s frustrating.”

Santille finished 2 of 4 at the plate, driving in three runs, while Kobe Mitchell plated a pair of runs – both on RBI ground outs.

Mitchell started on the mound, going three-plus, fanning one, walking one and giving up four runs (three earned).

Skylar Mazeroski, the second of three Harrison Central pitchers to take the mound, took the loss, giving up seven runs (six earned) in two-plus innings.