WESTWOOD >> Taunton’s unbeaten baseball season keeps rolling.

The Tigers (8-0) did all the little things right Saturday afternoon to win a nonleague matchup of Div. 1 powerhouses, 5-1, over Xaverian.

Johnny Escobalez (5.1 innings pitched, four hits, one earned run, walk, three strikeouts) got through five scoreless innings before the Hawks (7-2) finally got on the board, after Taunton scored twice in both the fourth and fifth innings to build a comfortable lead. Pristine defense behind him played a major role, especially from center fielder Jeremy Knief.

All nine batters reached base safely at least once.

“It’s a good team win,” said Tigers head coach Blair Bourque. “It’s a good indicator of where we are, where we want to be against a really good squad. You don’t want to get too high or too low. … We’re just trying to get better every day.”

Cam Dorr (2-for-4, RBI, run) and Dylan Keenan (2-for-3, RBI, stolen base) each hit a double for Taunton’s only extra-base hits, but the Tigers did plenty to produce enough offense against a Xaverian group that had allowed more than three runs in a game only once prior.

Three of their runs came on RBI singles. The other two came on a sacrifice fly and a safety squeeze bunt.

“You’ve got to manufacture runs,” Bourque said. “We try to score at least one run an inning. If we can get greedy and selfish, we try to obviously score some more. … It’s some of the things we work on. When you can execute them in a game, testament to those guys right there that are working hard, doing the little things.”

Momentum was in Taunton’s favor right from the start, with Escobalez reaching on a walk and stealing second. After he advanced to third on a ground-out, Dorr flared a single just over the third baseman’s reach for the 1-0 lead.

“It helps a lot, it gives me a lot of relief,” Escobalez said. “Just to have a cushion, that’s when I can get ahead of batters. It just helps, always having the lead helps. … It’s definitely the momentum. If we can get that run in the first inning, we know we can do it the whole game.”

The next three innings saw Escobalez stymie the Hawks, allowing just three to reach base — all on either a walk or a hit-by-pitch. Two of those baserunners stole their way into scoring position with two outs, but Escobalez forced the ball in play both times for his defense to get the final out of the second and third innings.

“(Escobalez) did a fantastic job today,” Bourque said. “Getting the first two outs (each inning) was really good. The last out was a little difficult. … He’s able to throw strikes, keep the guys off balance. He just pitched really well.”

Taunton applied more pressure in the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out on two hit batsmen and Joe Benoit’s walk. Eight-hitter Keenan belted a single to right field to drive in Jace Galante, and nine-hitter Cam Tomaszycki drove in a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly.

The Tigers did much of the same in the fifth inning, as Dorr’s ground-rule double put runners on second and third with nobody out. Galante’s bunt plated Caden Lindskog and Benoit’s single made it 5-0.

The sixth-through-ninth hitters in Taunton’s lineup combined to bat 3-for-8 with three RBI, two walks and a run scored.

Escobalez got into some trouble when Jake Lonardo’s single put runners on first and third with one out in the sixth, forcing Bourque to pull the southpaw.

Ryan Crowley forced Brady Hargraves to fly out on a sliding play from Knief in center, deep enough to score Nolan Rappoli. That’s all the bullpen would allow to get on the scoreboard, with Tomaszycki inheriting runners on first and second in the seventh inning.

He fanned a batter before forcing a game-ending double play.

“We have a lot of pitchers that can close and start,” Escobalez said.