A confident De La Salle baseball team entered the Oakland Coliseum Saturday night with high hopes of a section title, but Freedom’s star lefty Billy Wardell (10-1) had a different idea.

Wardell threw a one-hit shutout, including 11 strikeouts, as the third-seeded Falcons (23-4) shut out the number-one seeded Spartans 3-0 in the Division 1 championship game.

Wardell established his dominance early on, striking out six of the first seven batters. But Noah Perio reached first when he struck out and the ball scooted away from Falcon catcher Tyler Buchanan. Perio stole second and third, but was stranded on third as Wardell struck out the side.

A hush came over the crowd in the second inning after Wardell collided with a Spartan in an attempt to steal second base, wound up face down in the dirt and had to be escorted off the field. Wardell overcame a gash over his left eye and toughed it out to pitch the complete-game gem.

Wardell had a no-hitter going into the top of the fifth inning, but Bo Walter lined his first pitch into center field. Center fielder Tim Gulbransen dove for the sinking liner, but short hopped it. Wardell then went to work and retired nine of the next 10 batters, allowing only a hit-batsman to reach base.

The Falcons scored two runs in the bottom of the second with two outs. Alexander and Buchanan walked. Javier Carvajal drove a ball past a diving Eric Angerer at first base for a double to right, scoring Alexander and sending Buchanan to third. Before the dust had settled, De La Salle starter Nick Berhel fired a wild pitch, allowing Buchanan to score.

The Falcons pushed one more run across in the fifth inning when Carvajal tripled to right-centerfield and scored on a single by Andrew Soto. The Spartan starter went four and two thirds innings before being relieved by Patrick Keane, who allowed only one hit the rest of the game.