Knoch opened defense of its PIAA Class AAA baseball championship in style Friday night at Kelly Automotive Park.

Cole Shinsky, Alex Stobert and Jeremy Frazier combined on a no-hitter while Dom Bucko hit an inside-the-park grand slam in a 7-0 victory over Burrell.

“This was fun,” Knoch coach George Bradley said. “Of course, it's always fun playing here.

“You'd have to be dead not to like this place.”

The Knights had plenty to like on this night:

Shinsky pitched the first four innings and threw 35 of his 43 pitches for strikes. Four of his eight balls were to the same batter — Noah Oddis — during a second-inning walk.

Stobert struck out four in his two innings of work.

Frazier struck out the side in the seventh as the Knights fanned 12 on the night.

Bucko had three hits from the leadoff spot in the batting order and reached base in all four of his plate appearances. His grand slam broke the game open in the fourth.

Knoch had a 3-0 lead — taking advantage of two walks and a hit batsman to score three times in the third — going into the bottom of the fourth inning. A walk to Mike McCarty and singles by Dylan Swarmer and Frazier loaded the bases.

With two outs, Bucko hit a line drive to right-center that split the outfielders. He circled the bases and beat a wide throw to the plate.

“Dom could hit anywhere in our lineup,” Bradley said. “He's got some power and could hit third or fourth. But I like putting a great hitter at the top of the lineup. Get him to the plate as much as possible.”

Burrell coach Mark Spohn admitted his team struggled at the plate all night.

“We had a hard time hitting that quality pitching, but a lot of teams have a hard time hitting those guys,” he said.

“This was still a ballgame until that home run. On a cold night like this, we probably should have had our outfielders playing in a little closer. We got burned there.”

Knoch's pitchers faced only one batter over the minimum. Oddis was caught stealing after his walk in the second inning. Burrell's Brendan Lettrich reached base on an infield error to start the seventh.

Then Frazier struck out the side.

“Jeremy's got a nice little hook,” Bradley said. “Alex needed to get a couple of innings in because he felt a little tight last week.

“I was only going to give Cole 32 pitches tonight. He asked for 40 because he felt good and that got him through the fourth.”

Knoch had only gotten in one scrimmage before Friday's opener.

“I'm pleased we were able to play this well,” Bradley said.

Burrell (1-3) is a perennial WPIAL playoff team and hopes to reach postseason play again.

“We're off to a rough start, but we've played some good teams early,” Spohn said. “I don't know how many people are going to beat that (Knoch) team.”

Burrell 000 000 0 — 0 0 0

Knoch 003 400 x — 7 7 1

W: Cole Shinsky 4 IP (4K, 1BB). L: Drew Cambal 4IP (2K, 3BB).

Burrell (1-3): No hits

Knoch (1-0): Dom Bucko HR 2-1B 4-RBI, Addis Crouch RBI, PJ Gourley 1B RBI, Dylan Swarmer 2-1B, Jeremy Frazier 1B 2-R

Monday: Knoch at Hampton