Pitcher Kyle Roche tossed a complete game to lift Newtown High School's baseball team to a 3-1 victory over host Masuk of Monroe in the South-West Conference tournament quarterfinals, on May 20.

Roche allowed an unearned run on just three hits, struck out six, and walked three to propel the seventh-seeded Nighthawks into Tuesday's semifinal round. No. 2 Masuk will wait for the start of the state tournament to get back to action.

Trailing 1-0 in the fifth, the Nighthawks seized the lead when Robert Lombardo smashed a two-run triple to left-center field. A hit batter and walk set the stage for the go-ahead knock.

Newtown tacked on a run in the sixth. Cole Demirjian, who entered the game behind the plate in the middle innings when Newtown catcher Ben Harrison suffered an injury, walked to lead off the sixth. A single, error, and Jack Miller's sacrifice bunt produced the insurance run.

Demirjian threw out a would-be base stealer, and third baseman Todd Petersen made a great diving play to deny the Panthers a hit. Second baseman Will Huegi made a nice sliding stop on a hard grounder off the bat of Jack Rose, but Rose beat the throw for an infield single, which drove in the Masuk run, in the third inning.

"We've seen him before. We knew what we were going to expect," Masuk Coach Ralph Franco said of Roche. "He keep us off balanced the entire game."

Roche throws a fastball, two- and four-seam pitches, and a curve.

"Location is my biggest thing. I was hitting that," Roche said of his key to success.

"He's been nothing but lights out all year. He's tremendous," Newtown Coach Ian Thoesen said.

The Nighthawks and Panthers have seen a lot of each other in recent days. The familiar foes started a regular season game on May 16 which, after 11 innings, was halted because of darkness after three and a half hours. The game resumed two days later, and Masuk prevailed 8-7 in 13 innings.

"It's fun," Thoesen said of the rivalry. "They have a very good baseball team over there. We came today and played well."