North Kingstown's Connor Walsh slides safely into third as South Kingstown's Sean O'Neil covers the bag during a May meeting of the two Final Four teams.

Journal photo / Kris Craig

The names and faces have changed, but for eight years the uniforms basically have stayed the same at the Interscholastic League Division I state baseball title series.

Over the past seven years the Division I state championship has been won by either Hendricken, Cranston West or South Kingstown. During that span, 10 of the 14 teams that played in the state title-deciding games were the Hawks, the Falcons, the Rebels and North Kingstown.

So it's probably not surprising when the Final Four of this year's double-elimination Division I tourney gets under way Saturday that the players will be wearing North Kingstown, South Kingstown, Cranston West and Hendricken uniforms.

There's no pixy dust in Division I baseball.

The teams that most people thought would be there when the state title was on the line; the teams that posted the best records during the regular season are the teams that will be at McCarthy Field in West Warwick for Saturday's Final Four opening-round doubleheader.

North Kingstown and Hendricken tied for the best regular-season records in the state with 17-1 marks against Division I competition. South Kingstown finished second to North Kingstown in the regular-season Division I-South standings, but the Rebels still had the third-best record in Division I with a 16-2 slate. Cranston West, which finished second to Hendricken in Division I-West, tied with Portsmouth for the fourth-best record Division I record with a 15-3 mark.

The four double-elimination regional qualifying tournaments played out as if they were scripted by a statistician.

North Kingstown, Hendricken and South Kingstown, the teams with the top three regular season records, all earned their Final Four berths with undefeated records in the regional tourneys.

The only qualifying tournament that needed a winner-take-all deciding game between two teams with one loss was the Regional 3 tourney that had Cranston West and Portsmouth in the field, the two teams that had tied for the fourth-best regular records. Cranston West, the 2006 and 2007 state champ, captured its fourth straight Final Four berth with a 10-4 victory over the Patriots on Wednesday night.

So it will be North Kingstown meeting Cranston West at 3 p.m. Saturday and Hendricken, the defending state champion, taking on South Kingstown at 6 o'clock. The winners of those two games will play at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and the losers will meet at 4 p.m.

The three teams that survive this weekend's play will move-on to McCoy Stadium, where they will decide the title over a two- to three-day period Wednesday through Friday.

The winner of Sunday's loser's bracket game and the loser of Sunday's game between Saturday's winners will play Wednesday at 6 p.m. The winner of that game will play the undefeated team Thursday night at 6 p.m. If a winner-take-all game is needed, it will be played Friday night at 6 p.m.

And while the Division I teams are starting their championship series competition this weekend, Division II will determine the two teams that will play in the best-of-three Division II title series next week at McCoy.

Prout and Mount St. Charles can clinch those title series berths Saturday. The Crusaders and the Mounties are the undefeated teams in the Region 1 and 2 Division II qualifying tournaments, respectively.

Saturday at Pierce Field, Prout will meet North Smithfield at 3 p.m., and Mount St. Charles will take on Johnston at 6. If either North Smithfield or Johnston, who both came out of the losers' brackets, win Saturday, the deciding games would be played Sunday at Pierce.

Bishop Hendricken

Defending state champion Hendricken comes into the Division I title series with the longest winning streak in the state, but the Hawks will be facing one of the most balanced title series fields in years in their quest for a fifth state crown in the past seven years.

After dropping an 8-5 decision to Cranston West in the regular-season opener back on April 8, the Hawks have posted 20 straight league victories, including three triumphs in their regional playoff qualifying tournaments by a combined winning margin of 22-2.

The late regular-season return of All-State outfielder Evan Marzilli to lineup, after he missed several weeks with an injury, certainly has bolstered the Hawks attack.

The Hawks also have two proven pitchers in Chris Costantino and Chris Sheehan. Sheehan pitched in the Hawks 3-0 regional title-clinching victory over North Providence on Tuesday, but Costantino should be ready for duty in Saturday's tournament opener.

North Kingstown

North Kingstown has one of the most explosive offenses state baseball fans have seen in several years. The Skippers scored 194 runs in their 18 regular-season Division I games and 33 more in their three regional playoff victories.

Two-time All-Stater Dave D'Errico tops a Skippers stat list that includes three .400-plus hitters: D'Errico (.456), Jay Ferris (.413) and Ryan Morris (.403). The Skippers also have five other regulars hitting over .300.

D'Errico also has been a force on the mound. He and fellow All-Stater Cody Normand have combined for 13 victories so far this season. D'Errico has posted a 1.83 E.R.A. en route to an 8-0 record, and Normand is 5-0 with a 1.15 E.R.A.

South Kingstown

South Kingstown may not have quite as many big bats as their South County neighbors in North Kingstown, but the Rebels did an outstanding job of combining timely hitting, solid defense and good pitching for their 16 victories in 18 regular-season league games.

Senior All-State catcher James McKinney is the Rebels' leadoff man and top hitter, with a .545 average. The Rebels also have five other regulars hitting over .300.

The Rebels mound staff appears to be well rested for the opening weekend of championship action. Coach Jim Sauro didn't have to use either of his two aces -- Kevin Carey or Alex Briggs -- in the Tuesday night's victory over Smithfield that clinched the Region 4 qualifying tournament title. Carey and Briggs have combined for 11 victories so far this season.

Cranston West

This year's Cranston West team may not have the established stars like the 2006 and 2007 Falcon teams that won state titles, but the 2009 Falcons win games in a variety of ways.

They can hit the long ball like they did in Wednesday night's victory over Portsmouth, when both Mike Saccoccio and Jeff Diehl hit two-run homers, or they can play short ball and win with singles and aggressive base-running. Senior infielder Matt Clarkin is the leading hitter with a .454 average.

The Falcons will need some of their second-line pitchers to come up with big efforts over the weekend, however. Both Joe Portukalian and Tyler Corsi, the Falcons top two starters, pitched extensive innings against Portsmouth on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Once again this season the state tournaments are sponsored by the Pawtucket Red Sox and Amica Insurance.

jgillool@projo.com