Last modified: Thursday, May 15, 2008 1:38 AM EDT Greg Dusel pitched the Rocketeers past Stoughton. HOCKOMOCK BASEBALL: KP streaks into tournament WRENTHAM - The King Philip High baseball Warriors are the hottest team in the Hockomock League right now! And the Warriors are MIAA Tournament bound! Behind a superb three-hit pitching performance by sophomore right-hander Alex Palioca, and a first-inning run scored by Mac Jacobsen out of a double steal situation, the Warriors claimed a 1-0 victory over defending Hockomock League champion Oliver Ames Wednesday. "I haven't been this excited in quite a while, this was a tremendous win for the program," said KP coach Ed Moran, whose Warriors won their fourth straight game overall, their third in as many days this week and improved to 11-6 overall. Palioca, used in a relief pitching role through most of the season, has been nothing short of brilliant this week. He hurled a 1-2-3 seventh-inning performances this week as the Warriors claimed victories over Mansfield and Stoughton. Palioca retired the OA side just twice, in the sixth and seventh innings. He walked six and struck out five, allowing the leadoff OA batter to reach base in just the second and fifth innings. Palioca and the Warriors got out of a second and third situation with one out in the second when second baseman Chris Horne latched onto a line drive and turned that into a double play. In the fifth, OA loaded the bases, but third baseman Luke Darling gloved a grounder for the first out, first baseman Brandon Howard gloved a grounder for the second out and Palioca notched a K to end the threat. "After what he did Monday and Tuesday, I was just hoping for five innings out of him," said Moran. "He was very impressive." KP produced the lone run of the game against OA ace hurler Mike Holmes (a four-hitter with nine strikeouts) in bizarre fashion. Jacobsen drew a leadoff walk and Garrick Cronin singled him over to third base. When the pair attempted to execute a double steal, OA catcher Justin Holmes fired to third base in attempt to nail Jacobsen, but the throw missed its mark. KP threatened again in the fifth, loading the bases on singles by D.J. Goldberg and Joe Tornabene, followed by a Jacobsen walk. However, Holmes notched two strikeouts for the final two outs. The Warriors are now off until a game Monday at Sharon. Franklin 4, Foxboro 3 FOXBORO - The Warriors had plenty of chances to throw a scare into Franklin High left-handed pitcher Andrew Leenhouts. But Foxboro could not come up with enough timely hits to subdue Leenhouts and the Panthers in losing the Hockomock League game. Leenhouts allowed Foxboro just six hits. The Warriors left nine runners on base overall, but couldn't get to the Panther early enough. In the third, Leenhouts twice notched strikeouts of left-handed Foxboro batters to leave a pair of Warriors stranded. In the fourth, Leenhouts twice secured infield ground balls to leave another pair of Foxboro baserunners stranded. In the meantime, Franklin used three hits, two of them bloopers off Foxboro pitcher Brian Swanton, to take the lead. The Warriors got one back in the bottom of the frame as Joe Nixon singled and eventually scored when a Swanton groundball was misplayed. In the fifth, Foxboro scored twice. Alex Price singled and Joe Clagg doubled, setting the stage for a two-run single from Garret Simons. Foxboro (7-9) visits Community Field Friday for a meeting with North Attleboro. Franklin 300 000 1-4 8 1 Foxboro 100 020 0-3 6 4Leenhouts and Getchell; Swanton and N. Thrasher; W-Leenhouts. L-Swanton (3-3). North Attleboro 3, Stoughton 2 STOUGHTON - Senior Greg Dusel blanked the Black Knights for the Rocketeers through the final six innings of the Hockomock League game. Dusel scattered four hits overall, retiring the Stoughton side in order in the third and fifth innings. Dusel issued just two walks, while striking out nine. Evan Dean came on in relief in the seventh and got out of a bases loaded jam as Brendan Picini made a diving catch for the final out of the game. Stoughton touched Dusel for a pair of first-inning runs, but he got out of that jam with two ground balls. Other than in the first inning, no leadoff Stoughton batter reached base. North took the lead in the first frame as Dan Rayburg tripled and scored on a Picini ground ball. The Rocketeers then overcame a one-run deficit by scoring twice in the sixth inning. In that frame, Kevin Connolly tripled and scored the tying run on a Steve Sousa base hit. After a Dusel single, Dean plated the go-ahead and game-winning run for North with an RBI-single. North (12-4, 10-4) entertains Foxboro Friday. North Attleboro 100 002 0-3 9 1 Stoughton 200 000 0-2 4 3 Dusel, Dean (7) and Hart; Asztolios and Dennis; W-Dusel (5-1). L-Asztolios. Sharon 6, Mansfield 5 SHARON - The Hornets rallied from a four-run deficit, only to allow Sharon to plate the game-winning run in the seventh inning on two hits and a sacrifice fly. Mansfield scored all five of its runs in the fifth inning on five hits. Andrew Doherty and John Garabedian each had two hits for the Hornets, while Joe Swindells had three. Erickson, the Hornets' starting pitcher, yielded pairs of runs to the Eagles (each time on two hits) as Sharon staked a 4-0 lead through three innings. Mansfield (5-12) visits Oliver Ames today. Sharon 022 100 1-6 9 0 Mansfield 000 050 0-5 11 2Tung and Alifano; Erickson, McGrath (5) and McGee. W-Tung. L-Erickson (2-4).