Hollis Brookline catcher Alex Razzaboni tags out Kingswood's Will Danais, a key play in the Cavs' 2-1 Division I quarterfinal win on Saturday in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – The bad news: Hollis Brookline’s Division II baseball quarterfinal with Kingswood Regional High School was a lot tighter than one might have thought.

The good news: It was tighter than one might have thought.

Indeed, the top-seeded Cavaliers lived dangerously on Saturday, but they emerged 2-1 winners and now face No. 5 Hanover in Wednesday’s semifinals at Concord’s Memorial Field.

“It sets you up well for the rest of the playoffs for sure,” Cavs coach Jay Sartell said. “You have to win these games during the rest of the year to show you’ve got grit to do it when it counts. Backs against the wall in a single elimination tournament in a game that is not meant for single elimination.

“You’re going up an old school coach (Kingswood’s Chip Skelley) who knows what he’s doing, he’s already played us once, he scouts really well, he put a plan in place and it worked. You just have to be a little bit better.”

And they were. HB did all its scoring in the first off Knights freshman pitcher Hayden Eastman on Paul Vachon’s two run double, and then held on for dear life. They put runners on base in every inning but the sixth, but got one thrown out at third and another at home.

Meanwhile, the No. 8 Knights (11-7), who lost to the Cavs 10-1 during the regular season, came in with a seven-game winning streak. They didn’t do much damage against HB starter Padraig Mac Seain until the fifth, when the bottom of the order came through.

Ben Libby reached on an infield hit and Will Danais doubled. Tyler Sprince’s ground out scored Libby, and Skelley called for a safety squeeze with leadoff hitter Shawn Swinerton at the plate.

It almost worked – but the Mac Seain fielded it and threw to catcher Alex Razzaboni. When the dust settled – literally, Danais was called out and the Cavs maintained their lead.

“We had the opportunities, and that’s what you’re looking for,” Skelley said. “The safety squeeze was supposed to be down to the third baseman, but it went right back to the pitcher. I still think he might have been safe at home.

“But the idea is we had opportunities. That’s a pretty good ballclub over there (HB). We all had them pegged for either No. 1 or 2, for sure.”

The Cavs were expecting the bunt, as players were alerting each other when Swinerton came to the plate.

“We worked on it in practice all week,” Sartell said. “Pitcher-infield practice works.

“We think teams are scouting us that way. You don’t come into the season with foreign pitchers like we do and not get scouted. I think our ERA for the year is sub-one. You know (teams) are going to want to get runners in scoring position and station to station baseball.”

But you’ll want to keep your station on WHB these next few days. Mac Seain fanned five, walked two, and gave up only three hits and then Sartell closed with Jack Lager throwing gas in a one-two-three seventh to close.

And where would they be without Vachon, bound for UMaine-Farmington, and his big hit after Mac Seain had singled and Torin White had walked.

“He came up big when he needed to,” Sartell said. “That combination, three-four-five, is hard to get out. … The thought process is plate a couple, get the pressure off.”

As the top seed, there’s always going to be pressure for the Cavs. But so far, they’ve handled it darn well.

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