His starting pitcher Dalton Koch acknowledged that he was experiencing shoulder pain. But the Lindenwood recruit refused to come out of the game. "I kept telling him that I'm good. I'm good. I'm good," said Koch, "telling him to believe in me." Koch wanted to be certain he finished what he had started, helping guide Warrenton to a 5-3 victory over St. Charles. "I'm definitely hurting," said Koch, following the win. "But we're already short of players, and I like to pitch whether I'm hurt or not. I still wanted to go in…" Koch was finally able to rest easy when Greg Schuknecht came in for relief during the ninth inning and struck out three consecutive batters. The triumph snapped a losing skid for Post 122 and boosted it to a 4-6 record in district play. Warrenton had to overcome a two-run deficit and then finally offset a 2-2 tie. Initial opportunities to grab control of the game didn't yield the results Duren was in search of. "We had bases loaded and couldn't get anybody in," said Duren. "We made some dumb base-running mistakes at the beginning of the game, where we could have had more runs." Warrenton loaded the bases with zero outs during the top of the second but ended the inning scoreless. St. Charles owned a 2-0 advantage until the fourth inning, when Koch drove in two runs off a misplayed ball. Mike Govednik and Keith Terry each scored, notching the game at 2-2. St. Charles' fielding exposed loopholes for much of the game. Ground balls routinely resulted in base hits as the game progressed. That offered a sigh of relief for Duren, who had concerns about St. Charles' above average bat action heading into the game. "I knew that this team could hit just by looking at the runs scored on their stats," said Duren. "It's unbelievable. To hold them to three runs is incredible. I knew they could cut loose at any time." While St. Charles did punch out nine hits, Warrenton used its clean fielding to reduce the damage. St. Charles loaded the bases with two outs in both the fifth and sixth innings but Warrenton held its composure and promptly shut down the innings. Koch says his confidence shot up knowing his defense was there to offer support. "That made me want to stay in more, because I knew I could shut them down for at least a few more innings," said Koch. He held St. Charles without a run for four straight innings. Warrenton took control of the game in the seventh, scoring three runs. Koch reached by error and was advanced by Alan Burbach. Koch was able to scramble home after a base pass went sailing into the outfield. Nick Mack pushed home two more batters with a triple to right center field. Burbach and Patrick McGuire each scored, prompting a pitching change by St. Charles. Brian Grote came in relief for Jacob Couch, who had struck out nine in just under seven innings of work. Grote allowed just one hit the remainder of the game but the damage had already been done. St. Charles pulled in one more run during the eighth inning. They loaded the bases with two outs but the tying runs were left stranded. Koch bared down to close out the inning vacating the mound. "He got into some jams, but he got out of them," said Duren. "He was throwing good and his velocity was still up there, and he was mixing his pitches. As well as he was pitching, he deserved to start." Duren says it was nerve-wracking watching his team leave so many runners stranded, but he couldn't overlook the outcome. "We did win and against a really good team," said Duren. "It's a really satisfying win."