Gavin Palombo's extra-inning base hit helped the East Providence High School baseball team avoid a massive upset by Chariho in the preliminary round of the 2024 Division II championship playoffs.

The senior's single to center plated Nolan Lorenz with the game's lone tally as the fifth-seeded and reigning league champion Townies edged the 12-seeded Chargers by a 1-0 count.

East Providence's escape in the prelims allowed the locals a chance to enter into double-elimination pool play where they'll face fourth-seeded Johnston on the road Tuesday night, May 28. Westerly is the top seed in Pool 1. The Bulldogs will host Tuesday the winner between eighth-seeded Prout and ninth-seeded Burrillville.

Second and third seeds Barrington and East Greenwich, respectively, have byes into the main draw of Pod 2. Narragansett and Tiverton meet in the single-elimination 7-10 game while St. Raphael and North Providence vie in the 6-11 contest.

East Providence improved to 14-4-1 in D-II outings to date. For Chariho, the Chargers' 2024 season came to a close with a 6-14 record in league games. Chariho gave a much better showing of itself against the Townies compared to the Chargers' 9-3 loss to EP early in the regular season back on April 5.

Dylan Annicelli was the winning pitcher Friday against Chariho. The junior right-hander pitched to just one batter in relief of classmate and fellow righty Tim Robitaille, striking out the lone hitter. Robitaille went 7-2/3 innings, struck out 10, walked three and allowed three hits.

A few times during the seven innings of regulation play the Townies either thought they did score or had a chance to plate a run, but each time Chariho starter Landon Sumner got out the jams.

Once, Sumner ended a potential threat by enticing a double-play ball. Another potential EP run was cut down at home plate and still another possible tally was erased by an extremely close call at first base for the third out of the inning.

In bottom of the eighth, the Townies finally broke the deadlock when Lorenz drew a one-out walk. Sumner reached his pitch limit while enticing a fielder's choice grounder for the second out. But the runner cut off was at first, allowing Lorenz to reach second. Palombo then sent the third offering of Charger reliever Ethan Elderkin up the middle, plating a speeding Lorenz with the game-winning tally.

"We seem to play our best baseball with close games: 1-0 is a common theme since last year," EPHS head coach Bobby Rodericks said of Friday's win.  "Sumner pitched the best game of the season and really kept us off balance.  Our 'Cy Young' candidate Robitaille matched his performance shutting out the Chariho offense."

He continued, "Now with the pressure being taken off with the double-elimination round we have a lot more confidence knowing our pitching is deep and we have some momentum going forward."

East Providence next preps for the trip to Johnston's Memorial Park Tuesday at 6 p.m. for its pool play opener. The Townies tripped the Panthers by a similar 1-0 score in their lone regular season meeting way back on April 6. Robitaille and Tyler Dicecco combined on the four-hit shutout.

The game's only tally came in the bottom of the fourth after Dicecco singled with one out. Aidan Martins reached on one of the four Johnston errors. Palombo walked to load the bases before Colin Roche singled into short left to bring Dicecco around.