PROVIDENCE — After how close they've played in their meetings to date, it's only fitting the East Providence and East Greenwich High School baseball teams will play a third and deciding game for the 2023 Division II baseball championship.

Facing yet another must-win situation, the Townies fended off elimination and forced a one-off contest for the title with a 1-0 victory over the Avengers in Game 2 of their best-of-three series Sunday afternoon, June 18, at Rhode Island College's Pontarelli Field.

The deciding outing for the championship is scheduled for Monday, June 19, back at RIC. First pitch is 4:30 p.m.

Three nights earlier, East Greenwich walked off a 3-2 victory in extra innings, plating the winning run in the home half of the eighth in the first game of the series. And two months ago, the Avengers rallied from an early five-run deficit to edge the Townies, 7-6, back in late April during the regular season.

Sunday, East Providence, which earlier in the playoffs won three elimination games in pod play to make it to the final, scored what proved the only run of the afternoon in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Nolan Lorenz began the frame for the Townies with a single off EG starter and losing pitcher Casey DeLorenzo. Up next, Jack McKnight squared to bunt and DeLorenzo unloaded a wild pitch, allowing Lorenz to not only take second, but move to third with some good, aggressive baserunning.

McKnight subsequently flied out to short center, not deep enough for Lorenz to risk attempting to tag. It was a wise decision because mate Steven Estrella followed with another flyball to center that did, in fact, sail long enough to allow Lorenz to slide home safely.

Other than that sequence, the only real worrying scoring threat for either team came in the top of the seventh, when the Avengers loaded the bases off East Providence starter and winning pitcher Dylan Annicelli.

EG used a clean single, a fielder's choice hit on the infield and a walk to fill the bags with two outs, the sophomore right hander approaching the 110-pitch limit against the last batter. Annicelli actually threw 109 pitches, one short of the maximum.

In came McKnight, who has struggled at times in relief during his senior year on the mound, and he started off throwing two balls to the first batter he faced. But he buckled down to throw three in a row in the zone, including the last to catch East Greenwich's Cade Thomas looking for the third and final out.

Annicelli went six-and-2/3-innings, allowed three hits and walked only two and struck out two to earn the win. McKnight, obviously, whiffed the only batter he faced for the save. DeLorenzo took the loss, going six innings and giving up seven hits. He walked one and struck out three. The run was earned.

East Greenwich did put two runners on in both the top of the third and sixth, but only one made it to scoring position each time and Annicelli got out of any potential jams with flyouts. Kyler Lorenz made a routine catch for the final out of the third in right field. Manny Santos made a nice sliding catch just into foul territory in left to end the sixth.

Similarly, the Townies put two on in the bottom of the first, but then went down three in a row. In the third, McKnight and Estrella singled with one out. Santos next grounded towards second, the ball striking Estrella for the second out. EG second baseman Daniel Nuti followed with a fine diving catch of a pop by Tim Robitaille to just onto the grass in right.