Junior left-handed pitcher A.J. Javitt ended Gerstell’s championship hopes by throwing a two-hitter and striking out 11 in St. John’s-Catholic Prep 5-0 victory Thursday over the Falcons at St. Paul’s School.

That performance powered the Vikings (17-4) to their fourth straight Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference title.

Javitt (5-2, 1.47 ERA) kept the hard-hitting Falcons (16-5), making their first title-game appearance in the program’s three-year history, off-balance with his curveball.

“That was the difference today,” Gerstell coach Cap Poklemba said. “He beat us earlier in the year [4-0] and I think we had a couple of more hits off of him. He didn’t locate it as nearly as well as he did today. He throws hard, but when he is breaking the curveball off, he is really tough.”

Sophomore right-hander Reece Early (6-3, 2.11 ERA) took the loss, but was effective.

He gave up four hits and three unearned runs in five innings while striking out three and walking three.

Early even stayed in the game after taking a line drive off his right shin in the bottom of the first inning.

“He threw a great game and well enough to win,” said Poklemba, whose team committed three errors. “He really fought. You can’t ask much more of him than that.

“We dropped two fly balls,” he added. “That hurts. When you give up runs like that, you are not going to win too many games.”

Javitt retired 10 of the last 11 batters.

“He was incredible,” St. John’s coach Omar Enriguez said. “In the second inning, when his curveball was working, I just knew that Gerstell might have a hard time hitting him.”

Severn 20, St. Vincent Pallotti 8: Brendan Gautheir (3-for-4) hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning to the host Admirals (16-8) beat the Panthers (10-10) in the MIAA B Conference losers bracket finals.

Winning pitcher Jimmy Riley went five innings, gave up eight runs on eight hits, walked four and struck out three. Severn had 16 hits.

The Admirals will face No. 13 Boys’ Latin (19-7), a 21-3 winner over Glenelg Country (11-8), in Sunday’s championship at 1 p.m. at Harford Community College.

Baltimore Sun staff contributed to this article.