JEFFERSON TWP - John Broderick took a chance on his freshman right-hander.

The Fox Chapel baseball coach then watched his hunch turn into a win.

Joe Noro struck out five, walked five and scattered five hits in six innings as the Foxes defeated Knoch 5-1 in Section 3-AAA action Tuesday at Laura Doerr Park.

"Today was his first start," Broderick said. "He'd done some relief work for us, but the other coaches and I felt it was time to give him a start."

Noro didn't allow a hit after the fourth inning and collected all five of his strikeouts between the fourth and sixth frames.

"He's such a tough competitor," added Broderick. "He's going to reach back and give you all he's got."

Zach Toth pitched a complete game for the Knights, striking out six and walking three, two intentionally.

Two of the Foxes' five runs were unearned, as the Knights committed four errors behind Toth.

"We know Zach's always going to pitch well," said Knoch coach Curt Schnur. "He's been very consistent for us. But we've just struggled scoring runs and fielding the ball all year."

The Knights scored their first and only run of the game to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

After Joe Arndt and Austin Leffler led off the inning with singles, Josh Sasse moved them over with a sacrifice bunt.

Knoch's Curtis Compton followed with a groundout to shortstop, scoring Arndt.

After scoring the tying run in the third inning on an unearned run, the Foxes took the lead for good in the fourth.

With one out and Mike McKoy standing on second base, Noro helped his own cause by tripling to center to score his teammate.

Knoch had a chance to answer in the bottom of the inning, however, when Compton came to the plate with runners on first and second and just one out.

The center fielder hit a sharp grounder to Fox Chapel second baseman Johnny Hastings.

Hastings tagged Leffler, who was on his way to second, then threw to first for the double play.

"Johnny's another freshman for us," said Broderick. "He's been struggling with the bat, but he's a good defensive player who knows the game. That was a big play."

Hastings came out of his offensive slump as well, collecting two singles and scoring two runs.

Fox Chapel added three more runs in the fifth, with McKoy tallying the key hit: a two-run single that plated Hastings and Adam Petrovich. The Knights committed three errors in the inning.

After walking the leadoff hitter to start the bottom of the seventh, Noro was relieved by Brett Horowitz.

"(Noro) was over 100 pitches," said Broderick. "We said going into that last inning that if he lost the leadoff guy, he was coming out. We didn't want to give (Knoch) anything to get excited about."

Fox Chapel 001 130 0 - 5 7 0

Knoch 010 000 0 - 1 5 4

WP:

Joe Noro (6+ IP) 5 strikeouts, 5 walks.

LP:

Zach Toth (7 IP) 6 strikeouts, 3 walks

Fox Chapel (4-9, 3-4):

Mark Lombardi 2-1B, Mike McKoy 1B 2 RBI R, Johnny Hastings 2-1B 2R

Knoch (6-8, 1-6):

Joe Arndt 2-1B R, Bob Kruth 1B, Zach Toth 1B, Austin Leffler 1B, Curtis Compton RBI

Today:

North Catholic @ Knoch; Kittanning @ Fox Chapel