ELKHART – Elkhart Memorial and Concord each used premier pitching performances Thursday night to claim baseball sectional wins.

Memorial blanked Goshen 5-0 and Concord handled Elkhart Central 6-1 in opening round action of the Class 4-A Elkhart Memorial Sectional.

Jake Tucker fired a three-hitter for the hosts in beating the Redskins. Tucker improved to 9-1 on the season for Memorial.

Lane Schultz led coach Scott Rost’s squad with two doubles and three RBI. Jon Bailey scored two runs for the winners, who scored three runs in the fourth inning and a pair in the sixth.

Memorial improves to 17-11-1, while Goshen finishes at 3-25.

The duo of Nick DeFreese and Matt Williams combined on a two-hitter for Concord in the win over the defending state champion Blue Blazers.

DeFreese improved to 5-2 by going the first five innings. He recorded nine strikeouts. Williams came on in the sixth to finish the game for the Minutemen.

Stephen Pinarski had a double, two RBI and two runs scored to pace Concord. DeFreese drove in two runs for the Minutemen, now 13-15. Central, which lost a huge and stellar senior group from last year’s state championship team, finishes at 5-20.

Memorial faces Concord Saturday at 10 a.m. in the first semifinal. Warsaw then meets Northridge in the second semifinal contest.

The sectional championship is scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at Elkhart Memorial.