Kingsford senior Jack Kriegl dives for home and scores during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game against Gladstone. (Ron Deuter photo)

KINGSFORD – Kingsford, behind a gem by sophomore hurler Domenic Frederickson and a big third inning, overpowered Gladstone 9-1 to finally notch its first victory of the season Tuesday afternoon at Gary Spigarelli Memorial Field.

Despite their winless record heading into the game, the Flivvers have been in mostly close games all season. Against the Braves they finally found themselves on the right side of the equation to move to 1-9 on the season.

“We had our moments where it could have gone sour for us today,” Flivvers head coach Joe Kriegl said. “I look at what happened to Gladstone today just like has been happening to us this season. They had that one inning that killed them.”

The Flivvers sent 10 batters the plate in the bottom of the third inning and scored six runs off just one hit, a single by junior Jonah Doenier who led the Flivvers with three of the team’s six hits with a double and an RBI. Gladstone issued four walks and hit two batsman in the inning, providing more than enough cushion for Frederickson.

In command and dominating, Frederickson scattered five hits while striking out six and walking just two for one of his best outings of the season. He was strong into the seventh before reaching his pitch limit and yielding to freshman Gino Santoni for the final two outs.

“Dom was awesome, very composed,” Kriegl said. “He made the pitches he had to make. He had his curveball working great. It’s nice to see a young pitcher like him have that success. That’s a big win for him. Then to bring a freshman in to get the final outs, that’s nice. We’re young and that’s the thing, we just have to find a way to win. Today we found a way to win.”

After the big third inning, the Flivvers tacked on two runs in the fourth. Junior Logan Grondin drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, and junior Bradlee Bottesi scored from third on a wild pitch. Junior Devin Miller added a sacrifice fly to left to bring home another Kingsford run in the sixth.

Junior Noah Trulock added a one-out double in the sixth, scoring on Miller’s sac fly, while senior Jack Kriegl and Grondin also singled in the game.

“I thought we hit the ball decent,” Kriegl said. “We made some plays when we needed to make some plays. Obviously their pitcher struggled a little bit. They really just had that one inning that killed them. But like I said, it’s nice to be on this side of it for once.”

Gladstone led 1-0 with a one-out RBI single in the top of the third.

The junior varsity game shared the same 9-1 score with unbeaten Kingsford again prevailing, a five-run first helping to lift the Flivvers to a comfortable margin. Santoni led Kingsford’s nine-hit attack with three doubles and three RBIs. Freshman Luke Rice added a two-run double in the first. Freshman James VanDusen earned the win on the mound, giving up just one hit over four innings with six strikeouts while working around seven walks. Kingsford improved to 5-0-1 with the win.