Five years ago Friday, Bartoli went boom and Wolcott finally got the chance to celebrate a baseball state championship.
Bartoli is of course Ray Bartoli, who just recently used his right arm to help pitch Army West Point to the Division I NCAA tournament. On June 10, 2016, Bartoli stepped to the plate for eighth-seeded Wolcott in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Class M state final against No. 14 Northwestern at Middletown’s Palmer Field. The score was 2-1, and the Highlanders were ahead. The Eagles had a runner on base, and with one swing, Bartoli turned a possible defeat into absolute exhilaration. Bartoli launched a 1-0 pitch to the left of the Palmer Field scoreboard. When it disappeared over the left center field wall, Wolcott had a 3-2 victory and the baseball program’s first state championship.
Bartoli wasn’t the only hero that night. Leadoff batter Steve Urbanski went a perfect 4-for-4, including a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning for the game’s first run. Urbanski scored two runs, one on his homer and the other on Bartoli’s blast. Matt Warren, Nick Longo and Nate Murphy each had one hit.
On the mound, Ike Negretti pitched a complete game and finished a remarkable individual tournament. Negretti pitched in all five games and won all five, including four starts. In the final, Negretti gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits, struck out four and walked three.
