Dom Bucko threw plenty of strikes with his arm Monday night at Kelly Automotive Park.

He produced a pretty good one with his bat, too.

The Knoch senior right-hander took over on the mound for Brandon Kowalski with two outs, two on in the top of the fifth, his team trailing Freeport, 2-0. He proceeded to throw 18 of his 22 pitches for strikes the rest of the way as Knoch rallied for a 6-2 victory and the Section 1-4A baseball championship on Senior Night.

Bucko also had the game-winning hit with a two-run homer to right during a five-run fifth inning.

“No, it can't get much better than this,” Bucko said.

“It's nice to have somebody like that late in games, somebody you know is just gonna pound the zone when he takes the mound,” Knoch coach Sean O'Donnell said.

Faulty defense let down the Yellowjackets (11-6, 8-5), who can get to the WPIAL playoffs with a win at Derry Area today. It looked like they were getting ready to punch that ticket Monday.

Tyler Hettich singled and scored on a double play in the Freeport fourth inning. Ben Beale delivered a two-out RBI double later in the frame for a 2-0 lead.

Junior right-hander Sean Furlong didn't appear to need much else. He entered the fifth having thrown just 38 pitches.

“Sean definitely deserved a better fate,” Freeport coach Ed Carr said.

With one out in the Knights' fifth, Ben McMillen reached on an infield error. Alex Altmire hit into as force play, but wound up at second base himself on an errant pick-off attempt.

Derek McGill hit a towering pop fly in the infield to seemingly end the inning. But the ball was dropped and Altmire scooted home. Bucko followed with a homer well over the fence in right-center for a 3-2 Knoch lead.

“It was a low fastball. That felt good. It's the second time this year I've hit one out of this place,” Bucko said.

Andy Pipes and Dylan Swarmer added run-scoring singles before Freeport was finally able to get out of the inning.

“They are section champs for a reason,” Carr said. “Good teams take advantage of mistakes and that's what they did. Five errors ... it happens. That's baseball.”

O'Donnell pointed out that an error helped Freeport get on the board as well.

“Our mistake cost us two runs, theirs cost them five,” O'Donnell said. “Make a mistake against a good team — and they are one of them — and they make you pay.”

The Yellowjackets mustered nothing against Bucko, who retired all seven batters he faced to get the win in relief.

The Knights (14-3, 12-2) won for the 14th time in 15 games. Their lone loss during that stretch was a 4-1 defeat to Freeport on April 21.

Two more errors led to a sixth unearned run for Knoch in the sixth.

Knoch recognized seniors Bucko, McGill, Josh Campbell, Mike McCarty, Kowalski and P.J. Gourley before the game. Gourley threw out the ceremonial first pitch and McGill was part of a group of students who sang the national anthem.

“Hard-working group — and we're playing together, for each other,” Bucko said of the seniors.

“What a group of seniors. It's been fun coaching these guys and hopefully we'll get to do it a while longer,” O'Donnell said. “Even Josh Campbell ... here's a kid who had a concussion early in the season and we couldn't get him back in the lineup. He got in the game today and had a key hit (pinch-hit single in the sixth).

“This was a good win, a gritty win. The kids just kept plugging away.”

Freeport 000 200 0 — 2 6 5

Knoch 000 051 x — 6 6 1

W: Dom Bucko 2.1IP (3K, 0BB). L: Sean Furlong 6IP (5K, 1BB).

Freeport (11-6, 8-5): James Flemm 2-1B, Tyler Hettich 1B, Matt Charlton 1B,. Ben Beale 1B 2B RBI

Knoch (14-3, 12-2): Dom Bucko 2B HR 2-RBI, Andy Pipes 2-1B RBI, Dylan Swarmer 1B RBI, Josh Campbell 1B

Today: Freeport at Derry Area, Knoch at Pine-Richland