Sandburg's Billo at his best vs. Brother Rice

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Sandburg righthander Greg Billo had been there before. Same sectional final game, against the same team, opposing the same ace, Brother Rice junior Pat Gannon, who had eliminated Sandburg last year.

Everything was the same Saturday afternoon, that is, except for the result.

Billo silenced Brother Rice’s high-scoring offense in Sandburg’s 4-2 victory in the Class 4A St. Rita Sectional championship game.

The 6-foot-3 Billo (12-1) limited Brother Rice to five hits with nine strikeouts to two walks in leading the Eagles (30-5) to Monday's supersectionals.

‘‘I thought we played very well as a team,’’ said Billo, who struck out the side in the seventh. ‘‘We worked really hard all year. It was a great game.’’

Sandburg’s offense gave Billo wiggle room in the third inning when the Eagles pushed three of their runs across against Gannon (9-2). Junior second baseman Ian O’Connor (2-for-3) led off the inning with a home run to left field.

After a strikeout, Nick Kujawa (2-for-4) singled, followed by Brother Rice’s only error that potentially could’ve gotten the Crusaders out of the inning. With runners on first and second, senior catcher Jim Pipolo laced a run-scoring double, and Will Keuper capped the rally with an RBI single.

Sandburg made it 4-2 in the sixth when junior Lucas Fritsch singled and scored on pinch-hitter Alex Kazmierski's single.

‘‘This was definitely a grudge from last year,’’ said Pipolo, who went 2-for-3. ‘‘We wanted this game all year. This was one of the best games I’ve ever seen [Billo] throw.’’

Brother Rice, which defeated Sandburg 4-2 last year and went on to finish fourth in state, made it 3-1 in the fourth inning on sophomore Kevin Koziol’s RBI double that scored Ryan Wischhover, who also doubled. Koziol finished 2-for-3.

The Crusaders (32-7), who entered the game on a 15-game win streak, chipped the lead down to 3-2 in the fifth on junior Kevin Koehler’s home run that hit the top of the centerfield fence and went over.

But Billo bore down the rest of the way, notching five of the final seven outs on strikeouts.

‘‘I’m proud of our guys,’’ said Brother Rice coach Tim Lyons. ‘‘What these guys have accomplished, I think they put a trademark on the Brother Rice program.’’