Eric Knight threw an efficient seven innings and the Lorain County Ironmen beat the Slippery Rock Sliders 4-2 for their third win in a row.

Knight gave up two runs on two hits in the first inning but was nearly perfect for the rest of the game. From the second inning on, only three batters got on base — one by a walk and two on errors.

"(Knight) is doing a great job," manager Eric Cormell said. "He was able to throw his curve for strikes and get hitters to swing through is fastball. Every outing he’s had this year has been pretty good."

Stephen Hagen put the first run on the scoreboard for the Ironmen (11-14) in the second inning with a two-out single scoring Billy Urban from second.

Urban got a base hit with two outs and none on base and stole second.Later in the inning, Nate Antone hit a chopper that was mishandled by Slippery Rock third baseman Sam Trecaso and caromed into left field.

Hagen and Nick Hamilton scored on the error, making the score 3-2 in favor of Lorain County.

Matt McAllester, who owns the fifth highest batting average (.337) in the Prospect League, drove in a run in the seventh inning with a single up the middle.

"We got some timely hitting today, and they helped us out a little,"Cormell said. "When things are going your way, that’s what happens. We’ll take it."

A.J. Miller drove in the first run for the Sliders (8-15) on a groundout to short. The second came from an RBI single up the middle by Jeremy Banks.

Knight, though, retired 17 of the next 19 batters, including 11 in a row. He fast the minimum amount of batters in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

"I was just focused on getting in a rhythm," Knight said. "I was mixing up my pitches a lot, and they were all working pretty well."

In the seventh inning, Matt Fenster was thrown out at home trying to score off a wild pitch with two outs.

Catcher Mike Grieco’s throw to Knight covering the plate beat the runner, but Slippery Rock manager Andy Chalot was ejected for his vehement disagreement on the tag.

For the game, Knight (2-1) gave up two hits, two runs, walked two and struck out two in seven innings.

"Having a good defense behind me really helps," Knight said. "It gives me confidence knowing I doing have to strike everybody out."

Sliders starter Rich Raraigh (1-2) went seven innings, allowing seven hits, one walk and. The southpaw struck out four and two of his four runs were unearned.

Brandon Cantrill came in to pitch a scoreless eighth for the Ironmen.

Urban threw a perfect ninth inning or his first save of the year.