WESTWOOD – For the second time in three years, Xaverian has itself a conference baseball championship

After seeing BC High score two in the top of the eighth, Xaverian rallied for three in the bottom as Cam Grindle crushed a walk-off two-run home run to lift the Hawks to a Catholic Conference championship, 3-2, over the Eagles on Wednesday afternoon.

In 2021, the Hawks (11-5) also clinched the Catholic Conference title over a BC High with a walk-off home run, that one by Justice Ciampa.

“Just a great baseball game in every respect,” Xaverian coach Gerry Lambert said. “This is a tremendous achievement by our guys. Pure talent wise after our top two-three guys we are not one of the 10 best teams in the state, but we are one of the toughest 10 teams in the state.”

Over the first seven innings the game mirrored vintage Catholic Conference duels from the league’s wood bat days. BC High’s Sam Keene went the first six shutout innings, striking out 10, while Xaverian starter Josh Gauvain fired seven scoreless with six strikeouts.

With the game turned over to the bullpens as it transitioned to extra innings, BC High jumped in front. An Andrew Manning RBI single put the Eagles up 1-0 and Jackson Morse followed it up with an RBI hit of his own to make it 2-0.

In the bottom half of the inning, though, the Hawks countered instantly. After working the count full, Charlie Comella lined a leadoff double to right and moments later Michael Oates grounded an RBI single to left to trim the deficit to one.

That brought Grindle to the plate. He drove the first pitch he saw to right center-field for a walk-off two-run blast to send Xaverian into a frenzy.

“That was just so exciting,” Lambert said with a big smile. “You cannot hit a two-run home run with no one on base. There is an unsung hero in Charlie Comella, who works the count full to begin the bottom of the eighth inning and gets on base. That changes the whole tenor of the inning. And Cam comes through with the heroics.”