SCHENECTADY — With a postseason spot on the line, the Schen­ectady baseball team showed early and late just how much it wanted to win Thursday’s game against Catholic Central.

“We started out amazing,” Pat­riots coach John Isabella said after a 7-5 Big 10 victory at Central Park’s Buck Ewing Field. “They were ready. They were motivated, and they kept the intensity up.”

Schenectady collected six straight hits and scored four runs in the first inning, and relief pitcher Ryan Ziel­inski quelled a Catholic Central comebeck bid in the seventh to send his team to the Section II Class AA tournament for the fourth year in a row.

Joe Borowski pitched three-hit ball over the first five innings for Schenectady (8-7 league, 10-11 overall), and Ryan Quinn hit a single in the first and a two-run triple in the second as the hosts opened up a

6-1 advantage that proved to be just enough.

“It’s definitely a relief,” Borow­ski, a sophomore righty, said of the playoff-clinching win in which he struck out four and walked four. “We’ve been working hard all season, and it’s good to get it off our shoulders.”

“We’re in the sectionals, and that’s great, but we don’t want to be a one-and-done team,” said Quinn, a senior center fielder. “We got to Bruno Stadium last year [for the semifinals]. We got a taste, and when you do that, you want to get back.”

Schenectady got the necessary eighth league win out of the way, assuring the required .500 league record, before its final game today at home against unbeaten Big 10 champion LaSalle, the No. 1-ranked team in the state. The Cadets beat the Patriots earlier this month, 9-5, as part of their 19-0 record.

“Now, we can just go out and

relax and play ball,” said Borowski. “The pressure is off.”

Catholic Central applied pressure in the top of the seventh, when two walks and a bloop single loaded the bases, and Jack LeRoux hit an RBI single. With the bases still full, Zielinski enduced an infield popout, but the Crusaders got another run when catcher Alex Jurczynski threw wide on an attempted pickoff at third base.

After Ben Darry collected his third single, a two-run drive to left, Zielinski got a forceout at second and a strikeout to end it, securing the Pats’ third win this week, including a double-header sweep of Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons Monday.

“I struggled a little bit with some of my pitches. I left a few up,” said Zielinski, a junior righty who had worked a perfect sixth. “But the type of person I am, I got a little mad, and then beared down.”

“Zielinski is a gamer. He fights like a dog,” Isabella said. “We wanted him on the mound at the end of the game. He probably didn’t have his best stuff, but he got it done.”

“He’s a good pitcher,” Borowski said of his teammate. “We had confidence in him.”

Catholic Central (3-12, 3-15) had scored its only run in the second inning on a passed ball before rallying against one of Schenectady’s top hurlers.

“We made them earn it,” said Crusaders coach Greg Hansen, whose team also battled the Pats tough in a 4-3 homefield loss earlier in the season. “We put a little scare into them.”

Schenectady put six straight balls into play to open the home first, with Dante Shafer beating out an infield single, and Quinn sending him to third base with another to set up the big inning.

“Dante ran his butt off to get that infield hit, and that got everyone going,” said Borowski. “Everyone wanted to get a hit after that. We wanted to jump on them.”

When Quinn stole second and the throw sailed into center field, Shafer scored, and Zielinski followed with an RBI triple. Cory Flavin, Kyle O’Brey and Borowski hit after that for a 4-0 lead.

Quinn’s two-run triple in the second made it 6-1 and ended Rory Sweeney’s outing for the Crusaders, and Schenectady added a run in the third on an error.

That was the only run Crusaders reliever Brice McMahon allowed. The sophomore didn’t give up a hit in his 42⁄3 innings.

“That kid kept us in the game,” said Hansen. “I’m proud of him and proud of the way we fought back.”

Catholic Central 010 000 4 — 5 6 3

Schenectady 421 000 x — 7 7 1

Sweeney, McMahon (s) and Adams; Borowski, Zielinski (6) and Jurczynski.