EAST PROVIDENCE — East Providence High School will play for the 2023 Division II baseball championship after the Townies edged Chariho, 2-1, to claim the top spot from Pod 1 of the league playoffs Saturday afternoon, June 10.

As has become customary for the locals this spring, Tim Robitaille twirled a gem on the mound and the EP offense, including himself, helped out just enough to ensure the victory over the visiting Chargers in the winner-take-all finale of the double elimination portion of the playoffs.

EPHS advances to the face East Greenwich in the best-of-three league championship series to be played at Rhode Island College. Game 1 is Thursday afternoon, June 15, at 4:30. Game 2 is Saturday, June 17, at 4 p.m. If necessary, a deciding game would be played Sunday, June 18, with the start time to be announced.

Chariho and the Townies met three times over the last week in the postseason to determine the Pod 1 rep. The Chargers were  victors in 11 innings by a 5-3 score in the winners' bracket final on the road June 4. In Chariho June 8, East Providence was a 4-2 winner in the first game of the final round, forcing the "if necessary" game for the spot in the title series.

"After losing in 11 innings to Chariho we knew we had to play with our backs against the wall and play each game one inning at a time in hopes to continue to advance," EPHS head coach Bobby Rodericks Jr. said.

He continued, "I knew we had the talent, but pitching ended up really working out in our favor where we pitched Robitaille two of those three games. Luckily Chariho couldn’t play Wednesday, which gave the necessary rest for our pitching on Thursday. We've played many close games this season so we were definitely ready for the challenge."

This past Saturday, Robitaille, the Townies' sophomore right-handed ace, allowed seven hits, walked a batter and struck out five while going the seven-inning distance.

Offensively, East Providence scored a run in the bottom of the first inning after Jack McKnight led off with a double, moved to third when Steven Estrella safely reached on a bunt attempt, then scored on an errant Chariho throw during an ensuing double-steal attempt.

The Chargers touched Robitaille for what proved their lone run in the top of the third. Chariho used a two-out walk, an EP error and a single to plate the tally.

The Townies got the run right back in the bottom of the frame, scoring the eventual winning run after McKnight legged out an infield single and stole second. Manny Santos then worked a walk in front of Robitaille, who, as he's done so often this year, helped himself by singling to bring McKnight around.

Neither side did much at the plate the rest of the way. The Chargers ran themselves out of a couple of potential scoring chances, including for the final out of the game when the Townies picked off the would-be tying run to secure the win.

Robitaille caught the Chariho runner who reached leaning off first. He threw over to Oliver Andrews who then chased the Charger towards second towards shortstop Kyler Lorenz, who put the tag on for the third and last out of the contest.

East Providence readies to face East Greenwich for the D-II title. The Avengers  also needed a winner-take-all game themselves to get past Barrington to earn the champ series finals spot from Pod 2, taking the "if" game by a 7-2 score on June 9.

EP and EG met once this during the regular season, a 7-6 win for the host Avengers way back on April 27. EG spotted the Townies five runs in the top of the first, eventually clawing its way back to earn the victory with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

"EG plays clean and has solid defense as well as a good hitting lineup. Pitching is also good so we are definitely expecting another battle like with Chariho," Rodericks said of what to expect from the Avengers in the final.