Noah Matrigali was a force on Monday afternoon.
The Hoosac Valley senior threw a two-hitter and went 3-for-3 at the plate, finishing a home run shy of the cycle, as the Hurricanes knocked off Frontier Regional, 3-1, in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament quarterfinal round at Valiton Field in South Deerfield.
The sixth-seeded defending champion Hurricanes (14-7) will play No. 2 Wahconah (15-6) on Wednesday in the semifinals at Westfield State. The third-seeded Red Hawks finished 13-6.
“He was a force on the hill and at the plate,” Frontier coach Chris Williams said. “The kid throws hard and his curve was working. He was keeping my guys guessing and we didn’t square up on balls like we needed to in order to challenge their defense.”
Matrigali struck out eight and allowed just one unearned run in the win.
Hoosac opened the scoring in the third inning when Matrigali worked a two-out walk and scored on a John Krol triple off Frontier starter Ben Arnold.
The Hurricanes tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Nick Murach reached on an error and moved to second when Keagan McGrath singled. Matrigali followed with an RBI double to score Murach and move McGrath to third. After a walk to Krol to load the bases, J.P. Levesque hit a ground ball to short that saw McGrath cut down at the plate. Jack Sniezek followed with an RBI single to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead.
Frontier got some life in the sixth as Connor Waitkus reached on an error and stole second. After moving to third on a passed ball, Kade Gewanter knocked him home on an RBI ground out.
That was all Frontier could muster against Matrigali, who allowed just one hit to Gewanter and Arnold.
Arnold struck out six and walked two in five innings in the loss. Dylan Apanell struck out two and walked one in two innings of scoreless relief.
“Our pitching and defense has been our strongest components all season and I felt like they did their job today,” Williams said. “The offense is something that we’ve struggled with off and on throughout the season. It’s disappointing for sure.”