JOLIET – The pitch clock rules recently implemented by Major League Baseball this season have not reached the high school ranks.

But Joliet West’s Conner Hogan seemed to be trying to abide by those new measures during Thursday’s WJOL/Don Ladas Memorial quarterfinal game against Lincoln-Way West.

The increased tempo suited Hogan. He struck out six over six scoreless innings, which helped Joliet West to a 6-1 victory and a place in the tournament’s semifinal round.

“It’s funny, I’m usually a really slow worker,” Hogan said. “But I guess today the adrenaline took over. It wasn’t something that I did by design or anything. I was just trying to throw strikes.”

Joliet West will now face Plainfield Central, an 11-9 winner over Lockport, in the tournament’s semifinal round, which was scheduled for Friday, but now will be played Saturday at Lewis University.

Joliet West and Plainfield Central will meet at 11 a.m. and will be followed by the other tournament semifinal between Joliet Catholic and Minooka at about 1:30 p.m.

The winners will meet at about 5 p.m. Saturday for the championship game at Duly Health and Care Field.

Hogan was the story for Joliet West on Thursday. The Aurora University commit had excellent command almost from the start. He started the game with back-to-back strikeouts, and while he seemed to allow a base runner or two in about every inning he threw, he didn’t seem very plussed about any of the early traffic on the base paths and barreled his way through the Warrior lineup.

It’s funny, I’m usually a really slow worker. But I guess today the adrenaline took over.”

—  Conner Hogan, Joliet West starting pitcher

Hogan did a lot of just that. It ultimately netted six strikeouts, but more importantly the senior worked in favorable counts for the entire game. Lincoln-Way West managed to advance only one runner past second base, but Hogan promptly escaped the a second-and-third situation in the fifth by inducing a ground ball to get out of the only real trouble he faced all game.

Joliet West coach John Karczewski wasn’t surprised with the effort he got from his big lefthander.

“I had a talk with him yesterday and asked him if he wanted this game and he told me that he did,” Karczewski said. “It was nice today to go out and get him some runs, because if we’re going to go far he’s going to be a big part of it.”

Joliet West’s offense did all of its damage in two innings. The turning point came in the third where four singles and a pair of Lincoln-Way West errors broke the game open. After Jimmy Anderson and Ayden Lasson got things going with hits and error allowed the first Tiger run to cross. After that, Cael Karczewski delivered one of those runs with an RBI single and a two-out bases loaded infield hit from Owen Young procured another.

The Tigers worked a delayed steal attempt perfectly to snag a fourth run in the pivotal frame.

One inning later, Joe Lukanic added two more insurance runs for the Tigers with a triple.

“We put the ball in play at times and they had a couple of miscues, and when you can take advantage of a few things,” Karczewski said. “These guys have really put the time in.”

Lincoln-Way West scratched out a run in the seventh on an RBI single from Jack Linko to break up the Tigers’ shutout bid.