GETTING OUTS — Weir High second baseman Drew Curtis gets ready to make a throw to first base after forcing out Toronto’s Lucas Gulczynski at second base during Thursday’s game at the Red Knights Baseball Complex. Also shown is Weir High shortstop Elijah Gillette. (Photo by Andrew Grimm)

TORONTO — Sometimes a coach just simply has confidence in his guy.

Weir High head coach Jason Angle had confidence in his pitcher, Tyler Kelly, in the seventh inning of Thursday evening’s game at Toronto, and the freshman rewarded him, getting out of a bases-loaded situation to close out a 4-3 win for the Red Riders.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Angle said. “Right from day one I have had confidence in him. It’s huge when you can rely on a kid like that.”

Kelly went the distance for Weir High (4-4), striking out five and walking four while allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits.

“The young man stepped up and did the job,” Angle said. “We had a hunch with him (Wednesday) night. We told him he was on the hill and he came out and did an outstanding job.”

After the Red Knights (3-1) pulled within one with an RBI single by Lucas Gulczynski, Zac Berger walked to load the bases. Angle stuck with Kelly, though, and he got Tristan Thomas to pop up for first baseman Reed Hoover to end the ballgame.

“If it was the first time (he performed in a pressure situation), I would probably be more surprised,” Angle said. “He came in a pressure situation and finished a no-hitter against East Fairmont and he got the win in his second game. He really doesn’t pitch like a freshman. He’s a freshman in grade, but on the baseball field he’s more mature than that.”

Kelly was mobbed by teammates following the final out and showered with water by the Red Riders after the game. It meant a lot to the freshman to see the vote of confidence from his coach, and reaction from his dugout.

“It means a lot,” Kelly said. “For me to be put in a big game like this against a good-hitting team, it’s big. My heart was beating a lot at the end. As a freshman coming in to this team, to see all the juniors and seniors so fired up is nice.”

The win gave the Red Riders a much-needed bounce back from a 7-3 loss to Catholic Central on Wednesday.

“This was an extremely important win,” Angle said. “We expected a lot different performance after what we witnessed (Wednesday). They stuck together and there was a lot of positivity before the game. They really pulled it out as a team.”

For Toronto (3-1) head coach Brian Perkins, leaving the bases loaded to end the game and a total of 10 runners on base in the game was tough to take.

“We had opportunities early on,” he said. “We had guys on third base with one or not outs the first three innings and didn’t get them pushed across. That hurts. We had our opportunities and we didn’t capitalize on them.

“We got after it at the end, we just fell short. We knew Weir was a good team. We have a lot of young guys that are going to grow and get better as the year goes on.

Nick Sninchak shook off a two-run first inning by the Red Riders and also went the distance for the Red Knights, striking out five and walking three while allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits.

“Nick threw a great game for us to keep us in it,” Perkins said. “He gave us a chance to win it at the end.”

After Elijah Gillette led off the game with a double, Hoover reached on a Toronto error, allowing Gillette to score and make it 1-0. Hoover was then plated by a Tyler Komorowski single to make it 2-0.

Drew Curtis reached on a dropped third strike in the top of the third inning, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Komorowski to extend the lead to 3-0.

Toronto pulled within 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth when A.J. Clegg singled and Brendan Matyas walked and both scored when a Nate Karaffa ground ball got away from the Weir infield with two outs.

Weir High was charged with four errors after having two costly ones in the loss to Central.

“We still have some errors to get cleaned up, but we didn’t get down and we didn’t get defeated,” Angle said. “We just kept charging forward and that is a good sign for things to come with us. You have to put things behind you and keep going.”

Sebastian Spencer scored what ended up being the winning run in the top of the seventh, drawing a lead off walk and crossing home plate when Curtis put a ball in play and Red Knights committed an error trying to get Gillette out at second base.

“Sometimes you learn more from losses than you do from wins,” Perkins said. “We learned a lot (Thursday).”

Both teams play Indian Creek in their next outings. Weir High faces the Redskins on the road today, while Toronto hosts them on Saturday.

(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com)

Weir High 4, Toronto 3

Weir High 2-0-1 0-0-0 1 — 4-5-4

Toronto 0-0-0 0-2-0 1 — 3-5-3

WEIR HIGH (4-4): Kelly (WP, CG, 3R, 1ER, 5H, 5K, 4BB) and McUmar.

TORONTO (3-1): Sninchak (LP, CG, 4R, 2ER, 5H, 5K, 3BB) and Thomas.

TWO OR MORE HITS: Weir High (Gillette 2); Toronto (Gulczynski 2). DOUBLES: Weir High 1 (Gillette); Toronto none. TRIPLES: none. HOME RUNS: none. RBIs: Weir High 2 (Komorowski 2); Toronto 1 (Gulczynski).