The St. Paul baseball team has been on fire, winning its last 13 games while balls have been soaring (not unlike their mascot) out of ballfields throughout the NVL and beyond (there was one hit at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford as well).
The Falcons, whom I’ve decided to dub the “Maltby Street Mashers,” clubbed four more home runs in Wednesday’s 10-0, six-inning home win over Torrington. That makes 34 dingers this season for St. Paul. Now you see why I felt like the Falcons needed a nickname.
Leading the charge is Ryan Daniels, who hit homers 11 and 12 in the win over Torrington. Right behind him is Mario Izzo, who hit No. 11 against Torrington. Daniels and Izzo are the big bombers behind the St. Paul offense, but they’re not the only Falcons to touch ’em all this season.
Casey Cerruto has four home runs, followed by Brendan Foley, Jon Remillard and Devin Kulas with two apiece. Owen Davis has hit one home run thus far.
When the Falcons hit homers, they tend to do so in bunches. In the 11 games St. Paul has homered in, nine have had two or more round-trippers. The season-high is six on April 30 at Naugatuck. There were five in the season opener against Ansonia at home on April 10, and five more on the road at Wolcott on May 1. Besides the four-homer game against Torrington on Wednesday, the Falcons also hit four bombs on April 23 against Watertown at home.
Izzo has hit all 11 of his homers after April 17, which was the fourth game of the season. There were two against Watertown on April 23, three against Wolcott on May 1, and two more against Seymour on May 3.
Daniels has also hit his in bunches. There were the three on opening day against Ansonia on April 10, two against Torrington on April 22, two against Naugatuck on April 30, and two against Torrington again on Wednesday.
Cerruto also had a multi-homer game when he clubbed two against Watertown on April 23.
Bottom line, St. Paul has only been kept in the yard in five of the 16 games it has played. Of those five games where the Falcons didn’t go deep, Daniels was robbed of a home run by outfielder Ryan Montini in a 5-3 home loss to Woodland on April 14. One homerless game was at Bob Palmer Jr. Field (Municipal Stadium) in Waterbury, which boasts pro-level distances in all its dimensions (349 feet left field line, 338 right field line, 382 power alleys, 400 center field). Two other games, one at Greatorex Field (Waterville Park) and the other at Holy Cross High School, were played at fields with no fences, though Sacred Heart’s Xavier Gonzalez did hit a three-run home run in the game played at Greatorex Field. St. Paul has failed to hit a home run just once in the friendly confines of its home diamond, and that was a game it won handily over Wilby-Crosby, 18-3, on April 27.
St. Paul hosts Naugatuck on Friday at 4 p.m. The Falcons wrap up the regular season next week with games at Watertown (May 18, 3:45 p.m.) and home against Wolcott (May 20, 4 p.m.).
Photo captions: Top — St. Paul is ready to congratulate Mario Izzo at home plate following his two-run homer at Woodland on May 11. Bottom — Ryan Daniels, seen at Dunkin Donuts’ Park on May 4 against Litchfield, leads the Falcons with 12 home runs. (Photos copyright, Kevin Roberts, Sports on CT-69)
