For the first time since its initial season in the CIF Central Section in 2018, the St. Joseph baseball program is in a sectional division title game.

The No. 5 Knights took down top seed Clovis Buchanan to get there, winning 6-2 at Buchanan Friday in the Division 1 semifinals. St. Joseph (24-6) will play No. 6 Bakersfield Centennial (24-8) in the divisional championship game at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia Saturday at 6 p.m.

All Central Section baseball championship games will take place at Valley Strong Ballpark. As the Division 1 finalists, St. Joseph and Centennial have both qualified for the CIF State Baseball Championships which will start next week.

St. Joseph got to the Division 1 championship game under coach Erik Morrison after falling in the Division 2 semifinals each of the previous two seasons. Morrison has been with the St. Joseph varsity for three years. This is his first as head coach.  

Connor Chanley had three hits, two RBIs and scored twice for the Knights, who took control shortly after the first inning in the semifinals. St. Joseph scored a run in the second inning and three more in the third to open a 4-0 lead before the Bears got on the board.

St. Joseph racked up 10 hits and made one error. Buchanan (25-5) had eight hits and two errors.

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St. Joseph starter Jayson Rodriguez faced one batter, whom he struck out on five pitches. Mason Majewski went the rest of the way for the Knights and gave up just two earned runs.

Dom Hernandez had a hit and an RBI for the Knights. Six St. Joseph batters had at least one hit.

St. Joseph pitchers have given up just six runs total in these playoffs. 

The Knights won the Mountain League championship during the regular season. Centennial shared the South Yosemite-River League championship with Bakersfield Stockdale during the regular season. The Golden Hawks got to the Division 1 title game by beating No. 2 Fresno Clovis North 7-6 in the semifinals.

Prior to the championship game in each division, the higher seed was the host team in each round of the Central Section playoffs.      Â