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TROY, Ill. — Carter Gaskill has been tearing the cover off the ball at the junior varsity level.

The Triad junior had caused such a commotion at the lower level that coach Jesse Bugger felt compelled to call up the athletic outfielder and insert him into a loaded lineup.

"If you do well enough, it's hard to ignore, and after a while, you have to see if it's for real, and it looked real (Wednesday)," Bugger said.

In his first start at the varsity level Wednesday afternoon, Gaskill lit it up, joining the rest of his teammates as the Knights downed Highland 11-3 in a Mississippi Valley Conference baseball contest at Triad High.

"I didn't try to do too much, just go out and try to do my job," Gaskill said. "I just wanted to make it easy on the team."

Triad (23-4 overall, 8-1 MVC), the No. 4 large school in the current rankings, has won four of the last five meetings against Highland (14-12, 6-2).

The Knights clinched at least a share of the conference title. They have won at least a share of the conference four of the last five seasons.

Gaskill entered the contest with only one plate appearance on the season and zero hits. Those stats were flipped on their head after Wednesday's contest.

The designated hitter went 3-for-3 at the plate with two singles and a triple while recording three RBI.

"Being a late add, I was going to see everything he'd give to a lefty," Gaskill said. "I just went up there and expected what he'd throw."

Down 0-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Gaskill noticed Highland starter Chase Knebel struggled to get his curveball over for a strike. Gaskill knew the 2024 All-Metro pitcher of the year would throw a fastball to try to get the third strike.

"I expected that fastball and just hit it where it was," Gaskill said.

Gaskill pulled it into the right field gap and sprinted around the bases for a triple. The junior wasn't the only Knight who had success at the plate.

The Knights battered out 11 hits and tagged Knebel for five earned runs before chasing him from the game in the fifth inning.

"Chase Knebel has given us fits for a long time," Bugger said. "To come out and battle and grind out a ton of at-bats and do well offensively was a big deal for us."

Before Wednesday, Knebel had only allowed three earned runs in 22 1-3 innings and given up 12 hits in three games against the Knights.

"They do a really good job with their at-bats," Highland coach Joel Hawkins said. "They did a great job of getting to our pitcher. That's not typical for him, but it happens. They're a really sharp team. Really well-coached and they're really tough to get that third strike on."

Triad sophomore Keegan Seipp went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and senior Hayden Bugger went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Senior Braxton Yates collected two RBI for Triad.

Highland senior Garrin Stone was the only Bulldogs player to record a hit Wednesday, going 2-for-3 with two home runs and all three RBI.

"They fed him some pitches and he didn't miss," Hawkins said.

Stone's solo home run in the second inning was the first earned run charged to Triad's Hayden Bernreuter. The senior lefty started the season with 21 innings without surrendering a run.

Bugger noticed that, despite the five strikeouts in two innings pitched, that Bernreuter was just off and went to the bullpen early.

"(Bernreuter) has been awesome all season, but he was just not quite right and when you have some depth, why not use it," Bugger said. "We went to Sawyer (Brunson) early instead of trying to push Bernreuter."

In relief, Brunson pitched the final 4 2-3 innings, giving up one hit, Stone's home run, and striking out five. 

It was the longest outing for the senior out of the pen.

"We've told him a couple of weeks ago, I'm getting old and we've done this a few times, the guy you can bring in out of the pen is one of the keys to make a long postseason run," Bugger said. "Inevitably, if you're going to win five, seven games in a row there in the end, one of your starters will struggle out of the gate and you need that guy out of the pen."