“It’s like our second home.”

Bishop Hendricken infielder Elijah Brown said it best, referencing the Hawks’ fifth consecutive trip to McCoy Stadium and their eighth in the past nine years.

Hendricken will look to capture its fifth championship in a row after a series sweep of Cranston West in the Division I semifinals at McCarthy Field this weekend. The Hawks took a close decision in Game 1, 4-2, before winning more handily, 9-4, in the deciding matchup.

“We work hard every day,” Hendricken manager Ed Holloway said. “We’ve got a great pitching staff that really makes a big difference for us, and we’ve been hitting lately. In the playoffs, we’ve hit the ball much better than during the regular season. We’ve been getting some clutch hits, just need to keep it going.”

After two scoreless innings to start Game 2, Hendricken was able to jump out in front. No. 9 hitter Billy Roberge got the hitting started with a double to deep center field, coming around on a single by Dante Baldelli to score the first run. After Baldelli advanced to third on Matt Sweeney’s fly out, Andrew Flint would plate him with a single up the middle.

Flint would later score on a throwing error from West third baseman Dan Smith, giving Hawks starter Joe Maynard a comfortable 3-0 cushion.

While Maynard handled West for the first five innings, allowing only three hits, Hendricken added to its lead against Steve Rocchio.

Andrew Flint continued finding the right spots, lining a single into left center field with one down. Brown, forced to bat cleanup after Brendan Conley suffered a hand injury in Game 1, came through in the clutch. He crushed an RBI double to the right center field wall that scored Flint.

“Game-time news, Brendan wasn’t gonna be able to play, so I just saw the lineup card, I was in the cleanup spot and I embraced it,” Brown, who has most frequently batted second or fifth this season, said. “I had been struggling, so I was just trying to hit the ball hard, and that’s what happened.”

Brown wisely advanced to third on the throw home, where he would score on Andrew Hopgood’s sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. Brown and Hopgood produced after getting bumped up in the order, combining to go 4-for-7 with three RBIs.

“We need to check him out, luckily we’re not playing tomorrow so he’s got two or three days to see if we can do something with that [injury],” Holloway said of Conley. “We just moved everyone up a spot, and Andrew had a good game the other night so we moved him up from No. 9. Billy Roberge did a great job for us [in Conley’s spot] in right field.”

Chris Manfredo would be brought in after Rocchio was chased following 4 2/3 innings of work. The Hawks would load the bases off Manfredo in the fifth, but a fielder’s choice ended the threat.

Brown would pick up another RBI in the top of the sixth, the only run allowed by Manfredo, sending a sacrifice to left field that scored Sweeney.

Hendricken had a 6-0 advantage, but that was when the Falcons became more patient. In the first five innings, 10 of 18 West batters only saw two pitches in an at-bat. In the sixth, only one of eight Falcons swung within the first two chances.

“As we fell behind, we wanted to see more pitches and hopefully get better pitches to drive and not be so anxious,” West manager Rob Malo said. “Sometimes it’s more of an anxiousness as opposed to an aggressiveness. We have to get pitches we can drive instead of pop-ups. We kind of got in that mindset to see a few.”

Their success was no coincidence.

The top of the order all reached to load the bases for cleanup hitter Drew Spirito, who brought two runners home with an RBI base hit into left center.

Nico Salvaggio would come on in relief of Maynard after that single. Salvaggio got the first out of the inning on a tapper back to the mound, but he couldn’t quiet West completely. Mitchell Carvalho dropped in a 2-RBI single into no man’s land to score San Antonio and Spirito.

After a Mike Doire strikeout, Rocchio lined a single into right field to keep the rally alive, but Manfredo was caught stretching at third by Roberge.

“He’s totally confident in himself,” Holloway said of Salvaggio. “We have confidence in him. He’s only a sophomore, but he’s gonna be a great pitcher for us throughout his career. We’ve got confidence in him.”

The Hawks then went back to work in the seventh, and they did not welcome West reliever Austin Alzate with open arms.

Tucker Flint led off with a single and reached second after the ball rolled past Carvalho. Conley would come in to pinch run and Jordan Carvalho walked before a sacrifice moved them both into scoring position. Roberge popped out to set up a difficult choice for West: Walk Hendricken’s best hitter, Baldelli, to load the bases with two outs, or take its chances.

The Falcons opted for the latter, and Baldelli made them pay. The senior center fielder, who later that day was selected in the 39th round of the MLB Draft by the Phillies, drilled a 2-RBI triple to deep right center that busted the game open once again.

“No, to be honest,” Baldelli said of whether he expected to see any pitches to hit in his at-bat. “Sometimes I go up there and it depends on the situation. This time it was second and third, not really expecting to get pitched to. He threw one that I didn’t swing at and was like ‘All right, they’re coming at me.’ Just trying to work a good pitch, to stay on top and hit a line drive somewhere.”

Alzate’s balk would bring him home to extend the lead to 9-4.

Salvaggio would shut the door in the seventh, escaping a minor jam with runners on first and second with one out to end the series.

The Hawks took Game 1 in more thrilling fashion as right-handed closer Chris Hindle forced Smith to ground out with the tying run on second base in the final frame.

The Falcons had difficulty hitting Hendricken’s lefties for the first six innings. Starter Caleb Wurster walked five, but only allowed two hits and one earned run through 3 2/3 innings. Southpaw Marc Andrews did not allow a run in 2 1/3 innings of relief, either.

Holloway’s keen decision-making with his pitching staff allows ace Matt Kennedy to be well rested for Game 1 against South Kingstown at 6 p.m. tonight. The last time the two sides met at McCoy was in 2012, when the Hawks swept the Rebels for their 17th state championship.

“There’s no feeling to describe it to be honest,” Baldelli said of heading back to McCoy. “You play on such a beautiful field, beautiful stadium. You get unreal warmups. You just soak it in. It takes so long for other kids to do that, obviously a lot of new guys on the team so they’ll be experiencing that for the first time. They’ll know it’s the greatest feeling in the entire world.”