GRAY — One of the tenets of Gray-New Gloucester baseball this year is to avoid the big inning.

Even though York hit the ball on the screws throughout Tuesday’s Western Class B baseball prelim, the Patriots were usually able to do that. More importantly, though, they knew how to respond when York did put a crooked number on the board.

No. 8 Gray-New Gloucester immediately answered No. 9 York’s four-run fourth with a four-run rally of its own, then hung on for a 5-4 victory.

The win was the eighth in a row for the Patriots (11-6), who move on to the quarterfinals to face top-seeded Yarmouth at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Yarmouth.

“We’re more focused now,” said senior Ryan Cavallaro, who had two hits, drove in one, scored a run, and sealed the win in relief. “At the beginning of the season, we weren’t completely focused, but we knew we could handle all of these teams. We knew we had to face a lot of the top teams at the beginning. Towards the end, we realized we really needed these wins and we really came through.”

Coming through for the Patriots were Cavallaro, his younger brother, Kevin, and Aaron Boulos, all with key two-out RBIs that put the Patriots ahead in the bottom of the fourth, after York finally broke through against G-NG starter Adam Healy in the top of the frame.

“Momentum, especially in playoff baseball, is huge,” Patriots coach Nolan Beckwith said. “For them to put up four and then for us to come right back with four was a big turning point in the game.”

The Patriots had to figure York (8-9) was going to get on the board at some point against Healy, who stranded six runners through the first three innings. But the defense turned a crucial double play to help him out of a two-on, none-out jam in the second, and Healy buckled down to escape a bases-loaded, one-out threat in the third by getting a foul out to first and a ground out to third.

“We’ve talked about eliminating the big inning. That’s been kind of our downfall over the early part of the year,” Beckwith said. “Healy battled and gave us four great innings. We’re starting to make some plays in the field, and guys are starting to get some confidence, and it shows.”

Tim Lerette gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead in the first with a two-out single that drove home Ryan Cavallaro, who had stolen second and third.

The Wildcats’ persistence at the plate finally paid off on an RBI single by Ryan Schoff, an RBI ground-rule double by Chris Cole, a tough hop at third base that ate up Kevin Cavallaro on the backhand and scored a run, and Jack Radke’s RBI single that made it 4-1.

Gray-New Gloucester, which beat York twice during the regular season, put the pressure right back on Wildcats starter Cole. A leadoff single from Austin Keenan and a one-out single by Jordan Rice got it started. Cole got Jeff Taylor to pop out to the catcher for the second out, but Kevin Cavallaro laced a single to left to score Keenan, while Rice came home on a bad throw in the infield.

Boulos followed with a ground-rule double that tied it. Ryan Cavallaro found virtually the same gap in left-center to score Boulos and put the Patriots in front for good.

“We faced (Cole) last Thursday (in a 7-4 win), so we knew what he had,” Cavallaro said. “We had just given up those four runs and we really wanted to come back. A lot of us recognized that he was throwing first-pitch fastball a lot, and when he was getting ahead he was using that curve ball that he had, which is pretty good. We just sat on it.”

Kyle Nielsen relieved Healy and allowed one baserunner, that on an error, in two innings. Ryan Cavallaro issued a leadoff walk to Radke in the seventh, but the potentially tying run was quickly doubled-up when Kevin Cavallaro caught Ryan Lawlor’s line drive to short and fired to first.

“We hit the ball hard all day,” York coach Tony Robinson said. “It just seems like in key situations we hit it right at guys. That’s baseball. They had an inning where they found a hole and we come up and we couldn’t.”

The elder Cavallaro struck out Devin Merritt to end it and set up a rematch with Yarmouth, which beat the Patriots, 8-6, in last year’s quarterfinals, and also knocked them off early this season, 9-6.