With Jackson Gowan on the mound, though, it didn’t matter.

The senior right-hander gave up an unearned run, struck out nine and walked two in five innings of work to highlight the Red Dragons’ 4-2 victory over Barker in a Section VI Class C baseball quarterfinal

The win moves Maple Grove, the No. 3 seed, into the semifinals at 5 p.m. Thursday at No. 2 Gowanda, which shut out No. 7 Frewsburg 8-0 yesterday.

Red Dragons coach Jason Yohe wasn’t revealing who will get the start on the hill against the Panthers, but he sure wouldn’t mind a similar effort to the one that Gowan showcased on a sunny afternoon near the shores of Chautauqua Lake.

Maple Grove pitcher Tucker Fenton, middle, and first baseman Colin McPherson, right, are greeted by catcher Jackson Gowan after Fenton recorded the save in the Red Dragons’ 4-2 win over Barker. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Barker’s only run off Gowan came in the first inning when leadoff hitter Jaret Black reached on a two-base error, was sacrificed to third by Isaac Monaco and scored on Aidan Voss’ sacrifice fly.

That was it.

Gowan allowed just two more base runners over the next four innings — a one-out walk to Charlie Lagreca in the second and a two-out single to Andrew Hill in the fourth. Otherwise, his curveball gave the Raiders fits. Of his eight strikeouts, the last four — all in succession — were called third strikes.

“Jackson came in and had his curveball going,” Yohe said. “We recognized early that they struggled to hit it and he had it going, so we kept with that formula.”

Kolden McCall came on in relief in the sixth inning and gave up a run, courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Hill. Tucker Fenton worked the seventh, striking out the side after issuing a leadoff walk.

Maple Grove, which managed only four hits off Hill, scored an unearned run in the first inning; two in the second, highlighted by an RBI double by Baylor Hirliman; and an unearned run in the fifth.

Other than Nash Luther’s two hits, the only other base knock for the Red Dragons was an infield single by Colin McPherson, but given how well Gowan was operating on the mound it didn’t turn out to hurt them.

“We’ve struggled with the off-speed,” Yohe said. “We made contact all day, but we just couldn’t get the balls to drop today. The one good thing about this team is they don’t panic. They just keep playing ball. They’re confident.”

Now it’s on to Gowanda.

“They’re a solid team. They’re obviously a very, very good team,” Yohe said. “It’s going to be a heck of a battle between the two of us.

“All six of my pitchers are ready to go. We’ve very lucky on this team to have six quality starters. They’d be No. 1 starters on every team. That’s how good they are.”