EAST PROVIDENCE — If you’re going to pitch the best game of your high school career, you probably couldn’t pick a better time than when your team is on the brink of elimination in the state tournament and you’re playing the state’s perennial baseball powerhouse.

So that’s what North Kingstown’s Chris Colby did yesterday as the junior right-hander tossed a three-hit shutout, leading the Skippers to a 1-0 victory over previously undefeated Hendricken in the title round of the double-elimination Interscholastic League Division I Region 4 qualifying tournament at Pierce Field.

North Kingstown, which needed to work its way out of the losers’ bracket after bowing to Hendricken in the second round of the tournament last Saturday, will meet the Hawks again in a winner-take-all game tomorrow at Pierce. The winner of that game earns a berth in the four-team double-elimination Championship Series, which gets under way this weekend.

“I’m proud of him. He pitched the game of his life,” North Kingstown coach Kevin Gormley said about Colby.

When a Rhode Island high school pitcher who ranks fifth or sixth on his team’s pitching depth chart beats Hendricken in a playoff game, there’s a good chance it’s the best game of his career.

“He’s probably our five or six (pitcher). He hasn’t gotten a lot of innings this season. I think he only won one nonleague game this season, but he won three varsity games last year,” Gormley added. “It was just a situation where we had three other very good pitchers.”

But with Mark Medeiros, one of the Skippers’ top three pitchers, coming down with an injury and Cody Normand and Dave D’Errico, the other aces of the staff, both having worked within the last five days, Gormley figured the Skippers’ best chance was to give the ball to Colby.

“I gave him the ball,” said Gormley. “He had come in and pitched the final two innings against Hendricken last Thursday and pitched well. He has a lot of movement on his pitches. He has four pitches, and today he threw them all for strikes, and that’s tough. He threw a lot of curveballs, cutters, changes, and that makes his fastball seem like it has that much more velocity on it.”

Indeed, Colby made the Hawks swing the bats yesterday as he issued only one walk, which came in the first inning. From the second inning on, he faced 21 hitters and didn’t allow more than one Hendricken batter to reach base in any inning.

He wasn’t overpowering, striking out only two, and both of those came in the first inning. But he made the Hawks put the ball in play, and the Skippers’ solid defense delivered on 19 chances without making an error.

After four scoreless innings, the Skippers got to Hendricken ace Gary Gillheeney for a run in the bottom of the fifth. Nate Izzo doubled leading off the inning. After Gillheeney got an out with his fourth strikeout of the game, Izzo raced home from second on Jeff Cammans’ single to center.

“I was sending Izzo on that because you don’t get too many opportunities against Gillheeney,” said Gormley.

D’Errico, who was playing first base yesterday, and shortstop Nick Savickas kept the Skippers in front in the sixth when Savickas made a two-out running grab of a grounder over the second-base bag with a runner on second and fired a low throw to first that D’Errico grabbed on one hop.

North Kingstown finished with five hits off Gillheeney, including two by Cammans.

Hendricken

000 000 0 – 0 3 1

N. Kingstown

000 010 x – 1 5 0

Gillheeney and Adams; Colby and Cammans

jgillool@projo.com