For the St. Paul baseball team, this week is all about “survive and advance.”
You may ask what a phrase more associated with the NCAA basketball tournament has to do with high school baseball. Coming into this week, the Falcons were scheduled to play five games in six days. St. Paul can thank Mother Nature for the busy schedule. It rained on over two-thirds of the days in April, so the Falcon schedule is a jumble this week.
St. Paul started with an 11-0 win over Derby at Yale Field. The Red Raiders are nomads for another season as the Ryan Athletic Complex undergoes renovations, so the Falcons got a chance to play at an historic baseball park.
St. Paul went through round one of survive and advance on Tuesday when it edged out Seymour 8-7 at French Park in Seymour. The Falcons led the defending Class M state champions 6-0, but the Wildcats got to within 8-7 before a runner was picked off between first and second base to end the game.
Round two of survive and advance was on Wednesday at home, and that game was against Holy Cross in a meeting of two of the top teams in the NVL and Class S. The Falcons fell into a 4-0 hole and still trailed 5-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. St. Paul erupted for seven runs, claimed a 9-5 lead, and wound up winning 9-6.
Holy Cross got a run in the top of the seventh and was threatening to continue its rally, but Shaun Remillard re-entered the game on the mound and picked up the save.
In a rare feat, Remillard picked up the win and the save on the mound. A pitcher who has already pitched in a game is allowed to re-enter once, according to National Federation of High School rules. Remillard had thrown a scoreless sixth inning, then was called back in to pitch in the seventh after an infield error and back-to-back walks loaded the bases with two outs. A wild pitch allowed Holy Cross to get to within 9-6, but Remillard got a lineout to Ryan Daniels at second base to finish the game. The Falcons survived again, and picked up another win to get to 10-2. The Crusaders dropped to 11-2.
St. Paul’s five-game gauntlet continues on Friday against Woodland Regional at 4 p.m. in Beacon Falls. On Saturday, the Falcons are scheduled to play St. Joseph at 3 p.m. in Trumbull.
Notes
Several St. Paul hitters have been swinging hot bats so far this week. Ryan Parent has five singles, a triple, four runs scored and three RBI over the first three games of the week. Remillard has three singles, a triple, a home run, three runs scored and five RBI to go along with his win and save on the mound. Julian Thayer has two singles, two doubles, a triple, six runs scored and two RBI. Ryan Daniels has two singles, a double, a triple, four runs scored and an RBI.
