There were certainly some anxious moments for the Bishop Hendricken baseball team in Tuesday’s Region 2 championship at Cranston Stadium. But even as the scoreless innings mounted, the Hawks were confident.

They had a feeling their offense would eventually break through against North Providence starter Anthony Aceto, who allowed just an infield hit through five. They also thought that, with ace Chris Sheehan on the mound, the stage would still be set.

They were right on both accounts.

Sheehan tossed a complete-game shutout and the offense put up three runs in the bottom of the sixth en route to a 3-0 victory and a berth in this weekend’s Division I Final Four.

It certainly didn’t come easy, but the Hawks never wavered.

“I really didn’t think we would lose because Chris had a lot of confidence out there,” said Hendricken head coach Ed Holloway. “Confidence just poured out of him on the mound, and that made the players and coaches confident. He’s been great all year, and he came to win today.”

Sheehan found himself in a handful of tough spots, with runners making it into scoring position in four of the seven innings. But with the help of a flawless defensive effort, Sheehan buckled down and defused every threat.

In doing so, Sheehan paved the way. After he stranded a runner at second in the sixth thanks to a strikeout and a nice play at third by Alex Vescera, the Hawks finally took the right steps.

The middle of the order was due up in the bottom of the sixth, and Evan Marzilli started the frame by taking a four-pitch walk.

After watching a strike, Chris Costantino hit a towering fly ball that bounced off the fence in right field. Marzilli was racing toward third and eyeing home, but he was held at third when the ball caromed directly to right fielder Tyler Proulx.

“I was just looking to hit the ball the other way,” Costantino said. “He elevated it a little bit and I got a pretty good piece.”

With a threat finally developing, the Hawks didn’t have to wait long to get on the board. Joe Lopes followed Costantino and lifted a 1-1 pitch to deep center. Mike Rossi tracked it down, but Marzilli tagged and had no trouble scoring. Costantino took third. The Hawks added to their lead when Billy Walker laced a double to the fence in right. Vescera then delivered an RBI single.

To that point, the Hawks hadn’t done much of anything with their bats. Aceto struggled when he pitched against the Hawks in April, but this time, he shined. His three-pitch mix kept the Hawks off-balance all day. They popped out six times, and until the sixth, a slow roller that Marzilli legged out in the third was Hendricken’s only hit.

“He had a good fastball, changeup and curveball,” Holloway said. “He threw everything for strikes and he threw it in different counts.”

Eventually, the Hawks made the adjustment. Rather than trying to pull everything, Costantino, Walker and Vescera all hit the ball to the opposite field in the sixth.

“Coach [Steve] Hardy works with the hitters and he was telling them all day to stay back, wait on it and hit the ball the opposite way,” Holloway said. “The guys did it at the end there, and that was big.”

Though it took awhile for the Hawks to get going, they had the luxury of knowing that they probably wouldn’t be in a hole.

“We knew Sheehan was going to keep us right there,” Costantino said. Sheehan did just that, striking out nine and walking none. He allowed five hits, and once he got the lead, he was lights-out in the seventh, striking out the first two batters before inducing a game-ending ground ball to Jordan Nasser at second base.

“It was a real good pitchers’ duel,” Sheehan said. “I didn’t think it would be scoreless that long, but Aceto did a great job over there. He kept our hitters off-balance. I just knew I had to keep them off the board and eventually we would get some runs. Our offense is too good to not score.”

Sheehan had some help from his defense. The Hawks didn’t make an error, and the infield came up with some big plays with runners on base. The only hiccup came in the fifth, when a ground ball bounced past Nasser at second. North Providence threatened to make it hurt when Proulx doubled to put runners on second and third, but Vescera made a good play on a ground ball to third and fired to first for the last out of the inning.

“When you get that close, you know any little break can change everything,” Holloway said. “But Sheehan pitched great and our defense played great behind him. [Tom] Verdi, Vescera – they made some big plays and Jordan Nasser made the play to end the game. We had the pitching and the defense and we were lucky to get those three runs in the sixth inning.”

Without those runs, the Hawks might have found themselves in a tough spot. If the Cougars had won on Tuesday, they would have forced a winner-take-all game on Wednesday.

If recent history is any indication, that scenario spells trouble for the next step. Since the current playoff system went into effect in 2007, two teams – Cranston West in 2008 and Hendricken in 2007 – needed the extra game to win their region. Both those teams lost their first game at the Final Four, and neither made it back through to the championship.

“I’m happy to get out of here without playing tomorrow,” Holloway said. “We’ll get the pitching set up and see what happens.”

The Final Four is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at McCarthy Field, with games at 1 and 4 p.m. on both days. Hendricken will play either South Kingstown or the winner of Wednesday’s game between Cranston West and Portsmouth.