WHITING | Bishop Noll coach Paul Wirtz knew he needed a good pitching performance from Julian Guerrero to help shut down a potent Whiting offense.
Guerrero threw 5 2/3 innings of solid baseball, striking out eight Oiler batters as Bishop Noll defeated Whiting 5-1 in the Class 2A Whiting Sectional Championship.
“He threw great,” Wirtz said. “We needed a performance like that. He did well. I’m really happy with him.”
The Warriors broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth inning as Jon Frankovich clobbered an RBI-double to score Tony Cobb, who pinch ran for Cody Moskovsky after he hit a single.
With a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning and two runners on base for Noll, Danny Pobereyko hammered a three-run home run to left field, giving the Warriors three very important insurance runs in what was a tight game throughout.
Pobereyko also came in to relieve Guerrero, shutting down the Oilers' offense in the process.
“He came in and threw really well,” Wirtz said. “He jumped on that pitch. The ball jumped off his bat. He saw a pitch to hit and he hit it home.”
Whiting would draw first blood with a run in the bottom of the first inning, when Matt Dvorscak scored to open the Oilers’ offense.
After Whiting held a 1-0 lead for the next two innings, the Warriors tied it up 1-1 when Pobereyko’s sacrifice fly plated Jaylen Yarbrough.
The Warriors (22-6) played a few hours earlier against Wheeler in a nine-inning marathon, so Wirtz was pleased with his team’s resiliency.
“These are two good conference teams who know each other well,” Wirtz said. “In both games, we kept battling and didn’t play our best all the time. We came out on top so I’m happy with it.”
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