Wolcott and Holy Cross will play for the Naugatuck Valley League baseball tournament title on Friday at 6 p.m. at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.
The top-seeded Eagles reached the final with a 4-0 win over St. Paul, the No. 4 seed. Jack Drewry pitched the first six innings and took the win. Drewry gave up five hits, struck out eight and walked two. Dane Hassan pitched the seventh inning and struck out a batter.
Wolcott scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, then tacked on a run in the fifth. Reece Ketchum’s bases loaded walk brought in the first run. Tom Marciano hit a sacrifice fly, then Hassan’s RBI single made the score 3-0. Drewry scored on a wild pitch for the game’s final run. Nicol, Trey Nastri and Anthony Ligi scored runs for the Eagles.
Shaun Remillard led St. Paul with three hits. Dylan Gagnon was the losing pitcher.
Holy Cross’ road to the final was much bumpier. The Crusaders needed a Zack Lerner walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge third-seeded Woodland Regional 10-9. The Hawks had tied the game in the top of the seventh inning on a suicide squeeze bunt.
Will Greene, Tim Zupkus (triple) and Joe Bonvicini (double) each had three-hit games for Holy Cross. Brian Parzyck had two hits and led the Crusaders with three RBI while Bonvicini drove in two runs. Connor Goggin, Zupkus and Parzyck each scored two runs.
Holy Cross was ahead 5-0 after two innings. Zupkus had an RBI single and Bonvicini added an RBI double in the first inning for a 2-0 lead. In the second inning, a run scored on an error off a ball hit by Goggin. Parzyck’s two-run single made the score 5-0.
Woodland scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning, then added five more in the fifth inning for a 7-5 lead. Holy Cross responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to retake the lead, 8-7. RBI singles by Bonvicini and Austin Brown tied the game at 7-7. When John Greene reached on an error, another run scored and the Crusaders had an 8-7 lead.
Woodland scored a run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 8-8. Holy Cross retook the lead 9-8 on an error off a grounder from Parzyck in the bottom of the sixth.
State tournament pairings come out on Friday. Holy Cross is in Class S and Wolcott is in Class M. Both appear to be the top seed in their respective classes.
