On Monday evening, it was Donny Jackson who got the cold shower after the Marauders’ bats caught fire.

No. 3 Dunkirk ran away with a 14-3 mercy-rule victory in five innings over the visiting Tonawanda Warriors in a Section VI Class B1 baseball prequarterfinal at Dunkirk High School.

“I finally got a taste of my own medicine,” said Jackson, who was one of the players dousing his teammates during postgame interviews earlier in the season.

Jackson — dubbed Donny Fortnite by his teammates — went 3 for 3 with a double and three RBIs Monday. He also caught the first four innings of the contest, during which the Marauders did not allow a run.

Dunkirk’s Paul Trippy (12) slides safely into second base during Monday’s Section VI Class B1 prequarterfinal against Tonawanda at Al Stuhlmiller Field in Dunkirk. OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown

“Donny did a great job behind the plate, he stole me a bunch of strikes,” said Dunkirk senior captain and starting pitcher Tyler Karin. “He did a great job, especially at the plate too.”

After a pair of runners reached base for No. 14 Tonawanda in the top of the first inning, Karin worked out of trouble by fielding a squeeze bunt and flipping the ball to Jackson to make the tag at the plate. Dunkirk escaped the inning without allowing a run to score.

“Right out from the get-go, we played good baseball. Tyler had first and third right away in the first inning and he held them in check. Then it was just a matter of time before we scored enough runs,” said Dunkirk head coach Frank Jagoda.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Marauders immediately pounced with three runs. After a leadoff walk by Karin on five pitches, Paul Trippy III bunted for a hit.

Then, after Trippy advanced to second on a passed ball, Brady Corbett smoked a double off the laces of the third baseman’s glove down the line to score the game’s first two runs. Jackson’s first of three run-scoring hits on the day plated Corbett for a 3-0 Dunkirk lead in the first inning.

“His bat is really coming alive,” Jagoda said. “That’s important because in his spot, guys are getting on and he needs to knock them in — and he’s doing a great job behind the plate too.”

Karin returned to the mound in the second inning and retired Tonawanda in order, including a pair of strikeouts. Dunkirk then doubled its lead from three runs to six with another three-run inning. Zach Zentz led off the inning with a double and scored on a headfirst dive across home plate on a wild pitch. Then, Dylan Bankoski scored on an error, before Jackson drove in Corbett on a double hit high and deep into the left-center field gap.

“We put the ball in play hard, they made mistakes, and we took advantage,” said Jagoda. “What I like about it is we took some extra bases today. Our guys got good secondary leads and we scored on some passed balls, which we usually don’t do.”

Karin returned to the bump in the top of the third inning, but he couldn’t have left it much sooner than he did even if he wanted to. The Dunkirk senior threw just three pitches to record all three outs in the top of the third inning.

“I was happy about that. That was big,” Karin said. “I knew after the second guy there was a chance, but I was expecting them to take the first pitch so I wouldn’t have it. As soon as it went up to my center fielder Dylan (Bankoski) I knew we had it.”

Dunkirk tacked on two more runs as Karin drove in Zentz — diving across home plate again — with a single. Karin later scored on a wild pitch for an 8-0 Dunkirk lead.

To preserve Karin’s availability moving forward, due to his efficiency with a low pitch count under 40 through three scoreless innings, Jagoda turned to Greg Orcutt Jr. to pitch the fourth inning. He responded by setting down the Tonawanda batters in order, with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts to Karin at shortstop, to extend the streak to 11 straight batters retired by Dunkirk pitching.

While Tonawanda went 11 batters without reaching base, Dunkirk nearly did the polar opposite in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Marauders batted around the order before an out was recorded, extending what was an 8-0 lead to 14-0. The inning featured RBI singles from Jackson and Karin, as well as a two-run double by Jonathan Ganey.

“(We were) staying through the ball. … They relatively kept it low, so we kept off the high stuff, saw the breaking stuff well. We saw them all well,” said Jackson. “It’s an amazing feeling. This team is special — every bat, no matter where we are in the lineup, you know that run is going to come.”

With a 14-0 lead and only three outs to go before a 10-run mercy rule could take effect, Bankoski took the mound for the Marauders with defensive changes behind him. Tonawanda loaded the bases with no outs to begin the inning and managed to scratch three runs across, but an easy fly ball to right field closed out the 14-3 Dunkirk victory. By turning to Bankoski for the final inning, Dunkirk left Karin, Orcutt and Zentz all available to pitch moving forward in the postseason.

“Moving forward it’s going to be about consistency and intensity. Just playing all seven innings, that’s what it’s going to be about,” Karin said.

Dunkirk hosts No. 6 Alden today at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs defeated Lake Shore 2-1 on Monday.

“We’re playing a very tough team. We need to be prepared,” Jagoda said.

The winner of today’s game will play again Thursday.

“We’ll use this as momentum. We’ve got to keep on driving so we can get to that championship game,” Jackson said. “This team is special. I don’t think I’d rather be with another team anywhere in the world.”