CHSAA 'AA' baseball championship tournament final preview

CHSAA baseball beat writer Dylan Butler breaks down Friday night’s Class AA championship tournament final between top-seeded Xaverian and No. 4 All Hallows at Kaiser Stadium on the campus of St. John’s University.

To follow the action in real time, be sure to check out The Post’s live blog here.

Xaverian Clippers

Head coach: Lou Piccola

Record: 20-2

Starting pitcher: Anthony Pastrana, Sr. RHP

All Hallows Gaels

Record: 17-8

Starting pitcher: James Norwood, Sr. RHP

Outlook: Even though it’s been three years since Xaverian last lifted the championship trophy, the Clippers are no stranger to the Class AA title, winning six titles since 1990, when Lou Piccola led the X-Men over Christ the King at Yankee Stadium.

Denis Gostev

Xaverian is vying for its first CHSAA title since 2008.

Without a loss in the double-elimination tournament, the top-seeded Clippers are in the driver’s seat, but Piccola is quick to warn against overconfidence against an All Hallows team that has won four straight games to clinch its first-ever berth in the title game.

“I am very cautious,” Piccola said. “We can run into a hot pitcher or a hot team and anything can happen.”

When Xaverian won its first championship, Piccola said the Bay Ridge squad was in a similar situation as All Hallows and went to the College of Staten Island, took two games from Monsignor Farrell before beating a Steve Karsay-led Christ the King, 3-2, at the Stadium.

“Do we feel confident? Of course,” Piccola said. “Is there any reason for us not to be? But I’m cautious. You never underestimate your opponent. Once you let your guard down, that’s the formula for failure.”

All Hallows arrives in the final out of the losers bracket, having to stave off elimination four times, beating St. Francis Prep, Monsignor Farrell, Xavier and Iona Prep to get here. But coach Ed Gutierrez knows the mistakes, both mental and physical, the Gaels made in earlier rounds can’t happen against the dangerous X-Men.

“Those guys are really good, they have a lot of heart,” said Gutierrez, in his 11th year at the helm. “We have to almost play perfect baseball to get it done. A lot of the mistakes we made in those last four games, we can’t make against Xaverian.”

Gutierrez calls on ace James Norwood, the hard-throwing St. Louis University-bound senior right-hander on three days rest for a second consecutive start. He allowed one earned run on two hits, striking out eight with six walks in a 3-2 win against Xavier on June 6.

He will be opposed by Anthony Pastrana, a senior right-hander who is undefeated at 4-0 on the year. In his last outing, Pastrana cruised through five scoreless innings before giving up four runs in the sixth inning of a 6-4 win against Archbishop Molloy on June 3.

An All Hallows win would force a decisive championship game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. back at Kaiser Stadium.

dbutler@nypost.com