The St. Paul baseball team will make its return to Middletown’s Palmer Field on Tuesday night. The Falcons will look to erase the unhappy memories from their last appearance.
St. Paul was the top seed in Class S last year entering the state final against third-seeded Coginchaug Regional-Durham at Palmer Field. The Falcons were shut out by the Blue Devils, 8-0, and saw dreams of a state championship erased emphatically.
St. Paul is once again the top seed in Class S, and Tuesday’s game (7 p.m. first pitch) is back at Palmer Field. It’s not a final, but a win would put the Falcons back in the final at Palmer on Friday or Saturday. Ironically, St. Paul will again play Immaculate-Danbury. When the teams met last year in a thunder-delayed and water-logged semifinal at Berlin’s Zipadelli Field, the top-seeded Falcons beat the No. 28 Mustangs, 12-8.
St. Paul made it to the semifinal for the third straight tournament on the strength of an 18-2 victory over No. 9 North Branford at home on Saturday (ironically, North Branford defeated No. 8 Coginchaug in the previous round). Joey Tonnotti (6 strikeouts) picked up his 11th win of the season on the mound, and drove in six runs at the plate. Tonnotti blasted a three-run homer and two-run single. Casey Cerruto stayed hot, going 4-for-4 with a home run (fourth of the tournament), two doubles, four RBI and three runs scored. Mario Izzo doubled, singled, drove in three runs and scored four while Ryan Daniels double, singled, drove in a run and scored three more. Steve Morelli (run scored, RBI) and Jamie Leggett each added two hits.
Cerruto was one of the offensive standouts against Immaculate last year, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI. On the other side of the bracket is third-seeded Somers and seventh-seeded Oxford, another NVL team. That game is at Palmer at 3:30 p.m.
PHOTO CAPTION: Jamie Leggett and St. Paul baseball are looking to beat Immaculate-Danbury in the semifinal for the second straight postseason and get back to the Class S state final. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
