BROOKVILLE — With conditions deteriorating on a rainy afternoon at McKinley Field, the Elk County Catholic Crusaders kept on swinging and getting hits, and yes, scoring lots of runs.

Pounding out 12 hits, working four Brookville pitchers for eight walks and getting a four-hit pitching performance from Matt Gilmore, the Crusaders cruised to a 16-3, five-inning win via the 10-Run Rule.

Seven different Crusaders had hits, with Jack Breindel and Charlie Geci both finishing with three. Breindl drove in four runs, while Geci knocked in three. Wyatt Brem singled twice and drove in two runs. All but Frankie Smith’s double were singles.

“For the past week or so, our offense is starting to click,” said Crusaders head coach Danny Singer, whose team improved to 4-2. “The guys have been working hard at practice, getting good swings in and are really starting to protect the zone, and it’s great to see their work start to come to fruition. We’re running the bases really well. You don’t score 16 runs without running the bases well. The guys are doing a great job going first to third and getting dirt ball reads.”

With the Raiders leading 2-0 after the first inning, the Crusaders pulled away with seven runs in the second inning and eight runs in the third to make the score 15-3 going into the bottom of the third.

The Crusaders sent 11 batters to the plate in the second. Gilmore singled in two runs to start a string of four straight batters singling with runs scoring. Briendel, Paxton Herzing and Geci joined that list.

Seven straight Crusaders reached to start the third. Smith’s double drove in the first run. Breindel singled in two runs and Geci knocked in a run before the first out of the inning. Brem singled in two runs and Smith’s sacrifice fly made it 15-3.

Gilmore, meanwhile, needed 76 pitches to complete his five-inning win. He allowed four hits, while striking out three and walking two.

“We really wanted to come in today and try to start stretching him out,” Singer said. “We’ve been keeping him on a pretty limited pitch count early on.

“Today, we really wanted to focus on stretching him out a little bit, and he did a great job. He came to pitch, and I’m sure he has one or two balls he wished he had back, but he attacked the zone all day and took care of business.”

For the Raiders, Chase Nimmo singled and scored on Landen Marrara’s double in the first. Marrara scored on Tyler Barnett’s flyout. In the second, Joel Burton and Zach Phillips singled to start the inning and Burton scored on Nimmo’s forceout grounder to cut the lead to 7-3.

Parker Kalgren started and took the loss, giving up five hits and seven runs, five earned, in 1-1/3 innings of work with four walks. Zach Phillips, Trenton Colgan and Ethan Lauer also saw time on the mound.

ECC visits Johnsonburg for a doubleheader on Monday. The Raiders host Moniteau Tuesday.