NORTHFIELD - Pitching on just two days rest, Burke Bonneville expected his right arm to be fatigued.

But the Hopkins Academy senior ace was plenty strong in a 6-2 win over Pioneer Regional in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament quarterfinals on Monday night.

"I thought I'd be more tired," Bonneville said. "I felt strong warming up and felt strong through most of the game. A few innings were tougher than others, but I was feeling good pretty much the whole time."

Bonneville, who tossed a complete game, scattered seven hits while walking three and striking out three. Both runs were earned.

"Coach (Pat Lemieux) told me I was going to have to be the top dog pitching for us," said Bonneville, who threw 121 pitches, including 75 for strikes. "It's an amazing feeling. We are all so pumped."

The No. 6 Golden Hawks (15-7) advance to play No. 7 Frontier (12-10) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Veterans Memorial Field in Greenfield. They are looking to reach their first sectional final since 1990, when they lost to Ware.

"This is huge," Lemieux said. "It's been a long time for this program."

Hopkins' pitching depth has been hurt by injury. Garrison Banas, the team's No. 2 pitcher, is out for the year with a knee injury.

Bonneville "did a hell of a job. He's a battler," Lemieux said. "He's been our best pitcher for two years and we are going to miss the daylights out of him next year."

Hopkins got on the board immediately, as Bonneville helped his cause with an RBI ground-rule double to right-center that scored Kyle Mish (2-for-4, three runs scored). Karl Kapinos scored later in the inning on a Scott Fournier grounder.

"Getting those two runs gave me a lot of confidence," Bonneville said. "To get them right at the start was key for us."

Bonneville kept the No. 3 Panthers (16-6) off balance early and was assisted by some tremendous defense, first when shortstop Paul Wanczyk made a nice double play to end the second with runners on base and then when Wanczyk went deep in the hole to get the third out in the third with a runner on second.

"I have a lot of confidence in my defense," Bonneville said. "They always make the plays behind me and (Monday) they came up huge."

Hopkins doubled the lead in the second when Mish singled to right and Brian Pelchat walked. Kapinos followed with an RBI single to left and a throwing error scored Pelchat for a 4-0 lead.

Pioneer finally got on the board in the fourth when Matt Llewelyn smacked a one-out solo home run that just cleared the 320-foot sign down the left-field line. The Panthers looked to put together a rally, as John Keir followed with a single and Kyle Platner was hit by a pitch.

But Bonneville got Casey Blanchard and Jared Towne to ground out to end the inning.

"We were hitting the balls, but they made all the plays," said Pioneer coach Tom Conway, whose team finished with seven hits. "They did a great job defensively. (Wanczyk) made a few huge plays and the third baseman (Cooke) had a big play or two when they needed one."

Cooke's two biggest plays came in the fifth when the Panthers again seemed poised for a big inning.

Alex Towne and Casey Graves lead off with back-to-back walks and Joe Penniman hit a hard grounder to third. Cooke snatched the ball and beat the speedy Towne to third for the first out of the frame.

John Mancha followed with a single to load the bases and Llewelyn followed with a sacrifice fly in foul territory to the right side.

Keir then smacked a hard one-hopper to the left side that Cooke knocked down. First baseman Kapinos made a nice dig on his hurried throw to get out of the jam.

Hopkins carried the momentum into the sixth when Mish and Pelchat each reached on errors. Bonneville then drove in Mish with a sacrifice fly and Cooke smacked a single to center to score Pelchat for a 6-2 lead.

Cooke warmed up before the seventh inning, but Bonneville pitched around a walk and a single to close out his second complete game since Friday.

"When he tells you that he wants the ball in a big game, you give it to him and ride him all the way," Lemieux said. "I can't say enough about what he's done for us."

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.