Carson Carroll knew pretty quickly that he was about to have a good day.

The No. 14 Lutheran North Mustangs got a stellar performance from their top pitcher, who shut out the Riverview Gabriel Richard Pioneers, 6-0, to advance to Friday’s Catholic League semifinals against No. 5 Jackson Lumen Christi

“Got a really good warm up and wasn’t trying to throw it as hard as I could,” Carroll, a senior, said. “Just trying to throw strikes.”

He threw lots of strikes. Through seven shutout innings, Carroll needed only 56 pitches — a “Maddux” — with 42 being strikes. It helped him walk nobody and pile up 11 strikeouts.

“It’s his (Carroll’s) experience,” said LHN head coach James Lazaris. “You know, he’s been through this before. He’s a very efficient pitcher. Walks very little. He just does a phenomenal job; Every time he toes the rubber we know he’s going to give us his all. And he does a phenomenal job. And today he was on.

“He’s the head of the staff, and he knows it, and it showed today.”

Lutheran North scored one run in each of the first two innings, first when Adam Narr walked, stole two bases then advanced on an errant throw, then second with a Landon Boesl RBI single to plate Cameron Head.

But the fourth is where they did the most damage — Vince Campisi’s sacrifice fly scored Head, then Andrew Nastasi and Braden Mackenzie scored on a double by Lucas Mackenzie. A single by Narr brought the score to its final.

The Mustangs finished with six hits but struck out eight times — a testament to the effort by RGR starter Jake Szczechowski, but an indicator that they’ll need to be better in order to continue their CHSL run.

“For the most part, all season long, we’ve been putting the ball in play when we need to,” Lazaris said. “And, you know, we just try to minimize strikeouts. Today wasn’t the best day at the plate, but we got it done.”It was the third time the Pioneers and Mustangs met this season, with the most recent being an April 29 doubleheader in which LHN out-scored Gabriel Richard 33-0 in a pair of wins.

Pioneers head coach Jac Lemieux said that Saturday’s game was an indicator of his team’s continued growth as they ride the learning curve of a young team in the Catholic League.

“We came out a lot more prepared,” Lemieux said. “You know, we were on a weeklong break from spring break, so we kind of were getting the rust off.

“But our guys competed very well.

“Very proud to be a GR Pioneer right now, even though we lost.

“Very young team, so we’ll be ready when the time comes.”

Though eliminated from CHSL title contention, the Pioneers still have the state tournament to look forward to.

As a Division 4 team contending largely with Division 2 and 3 teams, Lemieux knows that these types of games are only helping his players.

“We’re playing top teams in Division 2, top teams in Division 3, top teams in Division 4 in Cardinal Mooney,” he said.

“And I told the guys, it’s ‘how do you embrace it?’

“We can either come into our shell or we can compete.

“Overall, I think we competed very well.”

Saturday’s win is Lutheran North’s 14th in their last 15 games, a stretch which includes two wins over their next CHSL tournament foe, Jackson Lumen Christi.

Lumen Christi is attempting to follow up last season’s success which it reached the Division 3 state title game.

On the other side of the bracket is Divine Child and Cardinal Mooney, who the Mustangs are 3-1 against this season.

“It doesn’t get easier the farther you make it in any playoff, because you’re going to face everybody’s best,” Lazaris said. “But you know, we’re ready.

“We’re ready for that challenge, and we’ll see.

“We’ll see what happens next week when we play the next game.”

Of course, they hope to take home the gold.

Said Carrol: “That would be amazing.”