MONTEREY &8212; Monterey senior right-hander Gary Evans has a rule of thumb on his release.

The knuckles get can drop down to just a few inches off the ground. Maybe more, but definitely nothing less.

For a guy who basically taught himself to pitch like Kent Tekulve or Gene Garber &8212; two pro pitchers who were known for their submarine style &8212; Evans has it down pat. He just worked at it on his own, took a few pointers from former Monterey hurler Phillip Bryan and tried it out heading into his junior season.

Now a senior, Evans can baffle a good many hitters in Class B. On Thursday, he struck out 10 and allowed five hits in an 11-1 win over the Evans Eagles in six innings to open the playoffs.

&8220;I felt like I didn&8217;t have very good velocity overhand,&8221; Evans said. &8220;Everything I&8217;ve learned, I taught myself. Phillip helped me a little bit. I&8217;ve heard (teams) over there before &8212; they were saying, &8216;I can&8217;t hit it.&8217; There&8217;s not a lot of submarine pitchers out there. I just try to go out there and do the best I can.&8221;

It was enough to baffle the Eagles&8217; bats for most of the game and definitely the first time through the order. Armed with a little two-seam fastball and a four-seamer &8212; not to mention his overhand stuff and a splitter &8212; Evans allowed more than one baserunner only in the sixth inning when the Eagles got their lone run.

He walked only two and allowed three hits through five. One was Mikel Minze to lead off that sixth, and he came around to score on Ricky Wyatt&8217;s groundout.

&8220;We&8217;ve seen sidarmers this year,&8221; Evans head coach Andy Kennedy said. &8220;We just couldn&8217;t make contact with the ball. We couldn&8217;t get going at the plate. We had a little rally in the sixth, but we couldn&8217;t get anything going off of him. I&8217;ve got a young team, and we were nervous. That&8217;s the first time we&8217;ve been in the playoffs in five years.&8221;

It helped the Wolves to throw Evans in the first game, although they&8217;ve gone with either him or Matt Shively each as No. 1 starters. Evans&8217; style causes hitters to knock a bunch of pitches in the dirt, which the Eagles did with only two flyouts for the game.

And the groundouts were handled cleanly behind him. The Wolves had no errors, and Layton Strebeck and third and Beau Shively at short made the plays.

Matt Shively started behind the plate.

&8220;Matt said he had good movement,&8221; Monterey head coach Hank Zizzi said. &8220;(His pitches) normally will drop. I&8217;ve got two good pitchers, and I put Matt behind the plate today and Gary on the mound. Most people when they face Gary will hit little grounders to third, and Layton is the best glove in the area.&8221;

Evans had room to work after the Eagles couldn&8217;t get the same result early when they took the field. Monterey picked up three runs in the first two innings thanks to four errors and a bases-loaded walk for a 6-0 lead.

Jared Ensminger singled in Matt Shively and Billy Metcalf in the first, and Ensminger drew a bases-loaded walk from Evans pitcher William Jeane to score Evans for the sixth run.

&8220;The jitters got to us,&8221; Kennedy said. &8220;I don&8217;t know if they were trying too hard or what. We couldn&8217;t complete plays today. We haven&8217;t had problems all year, but we had them today.&8221;

Jeane got out of the second inning with 65 pitchers thrown but settled down in the next two to keep Monterey off the board until Strebeck&8217;s triple in the fifth scored Austin Lipsey.

In the sixth, the Wolves scored four runs off reliever Timothy Thomas to end the game early. Lipsey, who had three hits, singled in a run early before Evans&8217; single with Lipsey at third ended the game.

&8220;He threw a lot of curveballs, but I think we all came ready to play,&8221; Lipsey said. &8220;I was just ready for them. We were trying to do this for the seniors.&8221;

It brings the Wolves to a second-round matchup with likely Choudrant, perennially a solid program in Class B. But the Wolves have played up most of the year and have done well against better competition &8212; the win over Caldwell comes to mind quickly for everyone &8212; and Evans hopes it pays off now in the playoffs.

And with the one-game format of the LHSAA playoffs, he could throw again Tuesday when the Wolves visit the Aggies.

Same delivery, no knuckles hitting the dirt and see if they can get under it.

&8220;The first one is so crucial,&8221; Evans said. &8220;Especially for us seniors. We&8217;ve got one more game we can play. Some games we&8217;re going out there and playing like we can play, and some games we don&8217;t. Today was one of those days we played like we&8217;re capable of playing.&8221;