The cross-town battle between Warwick PAL and Hendricken’s Flood Auto in the Connie Mack quarterfinals turned out to be as good as advertised.

But after the final out of a winner-take-all game three on Saturday, it was the defending state champion, Warwick, moving on to the semifinals win a slim 2-1 win.

Warwick jumped out to a 1-0 series lead with a 1-0 win on Thursday, before Flood turned in a shutout of its own on Friday night in a 6-0 victory to tie the series at 1. However, Warwick would build a 2-0 lead on Saturday and hold off Flood in the seventh to clinch a 2-1 win to decide the series.

In game one, a pair of right-handers – Warwick’s Chris Duchesneau and Flood’s Billy Roberge – got caught in a pitchers’ duel.

Duchesneau went the distance to pick up the win, allowing just three hits and fanning seven.

The lone run came in the bottom of the second, when shortstop Justin Kennedy laced a single that brought Chris Ray home.

Flood put two runners on in the seventh, but Duchesneau was able to get Brian Cipolla to pop out back to him to end the game.

In game two, Flood’s Alex Hernandez shut down Warwick to tie the series.

Hernandez tossed all seven innings in a shutout performance with his team’s back against the wall. He compiled eight strikeouts in the win.

Flood struck first in the bottom of the second when Roberge singled and came around to score on an error in the infield to make it 1-0. It would tack on to its lead two frames later on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Conor Kiely that plated Joe Boland to up Flood’s lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, Flood would break the game open.

Andrew Hopgood, Boland and Will Alfred all drove in one with RBI hits in the four-run fifth.

Alfred then crossed home on a passed ball to balloon Flood’s lead out to 6-0, and that’s how the game would end, as Hernandez held off Warwick in the final innings to secure the shutout.

In game three, Flood’s Dan Kennedy and Warwick’s Mike Broccoli teamed up for another pitchers’ duel.

The game’s first run wasn’t registered until the bottom of the fifth inning, with Warwick striking first.

Evan Broccoli and Mike Broccoli, who weren’t present for game two, turned out to play significant roles on Saturday.

Evan Broccoli gave Warwick a 1-0 lead with a bloop single in that fifth inning that scored Steve Foster.

Mike Broccoli continued to deal on the bump, and he would give himself some additional run support in the sixth.

Anthony Russo was hit by a pitch with one out in the inning and moved to third on a Duchesneau single.

And, with two outs, Mike Broccoli doubled his team’s lead with an RBI single that plated Russo to make it 2-0.

In the seventh, Flood scored one on a sacrifice fly by Kiely, but Mike Broccoli was able to escape the jam without further damage to clinch the series.

Warwick scored just three runs over three games, but was able to win the series behind a pair of tremendous pitching outings from Duchesneau and Mike Broccoli.

“Mike came out today and threw a great game, and Duchesneau was outstanding in game one,” Warwick manager Pete Palermo said. “It just sets a different tone with our team – they’re good leaders. It always starts with pitching.”

After a back-and-forth pair of games to start the series, Palermo knew that game three wasn’t going to be easy against Flood.

“This was a tough game,” Palermo said following his team’s game-three win. “[Flood] has a lot of heart and they’re always ready to play. We knew they were going to give us a tough game, and their pitcher did a great job.”

Dan Kennedy took the loss for Flood, but stifled Warwick’s hitters, yielding just one earned run over six innings of work.

“That was awesome, especially for a kid coming off of the freshmen team,” Flood manager Bryan Leahey said of Dan Kennedy’s performance. “He gave up a couple of hard-hit balls, but nothing too damaging, so hats off to him. He did a heck of a job this year and definitely took strides in the right way for the program.”

Leahey was proud of the way his team fought against a veteran Warwick roster.

“They held right with them,” Leahey said. “You look at the series, the only blowout was [Friday] night, 6-0, but the other games were one-run games. You can’t ask for anything better than that.”

As for Warwick, it will now meet Johnston in the Connie Mack semifinals.

Game one was scheduled for Monday night, but results were unavailable at press time.

Warwick will host the second game of the series tonight at 7 p.m. at Mickey Stevens.

“From what I’ve heard from other teams, they’re a good team, and we expect them to be pretty solid,” Palermo said of Johnston. “But I like our chances. Like I said, I think we have a veteran team that has experience. Hopefully leadership will take us through it.”