The defending state champion Bishop Hendricken baseball team was tested right out of the gates on Wednesday.

After several rainouts to start the season, the Hawks opened their campaign by hosting rival La Salle, and the Rams gave Hendricken all it could handle.

Ultimately, though, Hendricken prevailed, 3-2, as senior catcher Colin McBride plated Brendan Conley with a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh in a walk-off victory.

In the top of the seventh, Hendricken held a 2-1 lead, but La Salle quickly mounted a rally.

Peter Rouse led off the inning with a grounder to shortstop Elijah Brown, who threw the ball away, allowing Rouse to advance to second. That was followed by a single off the bat of Ed Jackson, placing runners at the corners with no one out.

But a questionable call with Michael McCann up next nearly cost La Salle a chance to tie the game.

La Salle coach Mark Mercurio called for a suicide squeeze, but the pitch was popped up back to Hendricken pitcher Nico Salvaggio, who fired to third base to double off Rouse. Hawks’ third baseman Matt Sweeney then threw to first to try to complete the triple play, but his throw eluded the target, allowing Jackson to tag up and head to second with two outs.

Seemingly, Hendricken was in a good spot to close out the game, but La Salle senior Nicholas Maiorisi had other ideas, as he lined a Salvaggio pitch in the gap to tie the score at 2.

Salvaggio limited the damage, however, escaping the inning by striking out Dillon Bordeleau and stranding Maiorisi at second.

Hendricken went to work right away in the bottom of the seventh, with Conley drawing a leadoff walk, before Andrew Hopgood moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt.

And the next hitter was McBride, who would emerge as the hero, drilling a pitch from La Salle’s Zachary Pipa that found open grass in the outfield.

Hendricken was able to claw out the win, even with visible struggles at the plate and in the field. The Hawks’ lineup produced just three hits, and the defense wasn’t much better, accounting for five errors.

However, it was a good win in the sense that nothing came easy for Hendricken. Good teams simply find ways to win, even while encountering miscues.

“We really dodged bullets today,” Hendricken head coach Ed Holloway said. “It was a good win for us because it could’ve gone either way, but we hung tough, which was a good sign. They tied it on us in the seventh, and we were able to come right back, which was good for the team. It shows a lot of character.”

La Salle made it tough on Hawks’ ace Matt Kennedy in the early innings, but he was able to find ways to work out of the jams.

In the first two innings, the Rams put five runners on base, but the threats proved to be unfruitful.

After a pair of scoreless innings for Hendricken to start the game, it got its offense going in the third, leading to a pair of runs.

McBride would walk to start the inning, before coming around to score on a passed ball to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

With one out, Dante Baldelli singled, and put himself in scoring position when he swiped second.

That was crucial as left fielder Andrew Flint would lace a single to plate Baldelli with two outs, pushing Hendricken’s lead to 2-0.

A walk, a hit batsman and an error allowed La Salle to quickly load the bases in search of cutting into its deficit in the top of the fourth.

A Bordeleau groundout to second scored Jackson from third, cutting the Rams’ deficit to one, 2-1.

Leadoff hitter Jordan Huntoon would draw a walk next to load the bases with one out, but Kennedy was able to leave those runners where they were.

He struck out Brandon Taylor and caused Ryan Ramos to roll over to third to end the inning.

Ramos would be the last hitter that Kennedy faced in his debut. He went four innings and allowed one run, but worked in and out of jams, causing his pitch count to skyrocket.

“In that last inning, he had bases loaded and got out of it with the one run,” Holloway said of Kennedy. “He did a good job. We need to play better, overall, behind him. I think he was at 85 or 86 pitches, so we took him out.”

Salvaggio relieved Kennedy in the fifth, and hit a batter and gave up a pair of singles in his first varsity frame. However, Flint threw out Rouse at the plate on a single by McCann to preserve the 2-1 lead. McBride made an outstanding play at the plate to hold onto the ball, going up the line to get the throw while absorbing a hit from Rouse.

“He made a great play blocking the plate, catching the ball and holding onto the ball,” Holloway said of McBride. “That was a huge play for us.”

Salvaggio would cruise through the sixth inning and yielded the one run in the seventh. But McBride’s RBI double in the bottom half of the seventh gave Salvaggio his first varsity win.

Hendricken would roll to two more wins on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

On Thursday at St. Ray’s, senior southpaw Caleb Wurster tossed a no-hitter in a 12-0 win over the Saints. It was Wurster’s first varsity start and he struck out eight.

On Friday, senior right-hander Joe Maynard fired a one-hit shutout in a 12-0 win of his own over North Providence.

The Hawks were looking to build off their 3-0 start on Monday, as they were set to host winless Woonsocket at 4 p.m.

Results were unavailable at press time.