The St. Paul baseball team picked up a big 6-2 win over Naugatuck on a blustery Saturday afternoon at the Raymond A. Legenza Baseball Field.
The Greyhounds were undefeated going into the game, and they were home after the contest was postponed Friday, then moved to Naugatuck on Saturday due to field conditions at St. Paul.
None of that seemed to matter to the Falcons, who erupted in a five-run second inning to quickly overtake a one-run deficit. Naugatuck got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but it drew no closer after that. St. Paul added an insurance run in the seventh. Both teams are 5-1 after Saturday’s game, the first of two meetings between the Naugatuck Valley League Copper Division foes.
Freshman Coby Degata notched his third win of the season and gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts over 4 ⅔ innings. Fellow freshman Brian Anderson went the final 2 ⅓ innings and allowed no runs or hits on the way to his first save. At the plate, Dagata was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored while sophomore Jay DeRosa went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Dagata allowed a run in the first on an RBI double by Naugatuck’s Dylan Sepulveda, but St. Paul was able to throw out Sepulveda when he attempted to turn his hit into a triple. Dagata’s first two strikeouts of the game followed.
In the top of the second inning, sophomore AJ Corrado was hit by a pitch. Dagata and junior Mike DeRosa loaded the bases with no outs against Naugatuck starter Kevin Cestari. A wild pitch brought in Corrado with the tying run, then back-to-back walks to freshman Cooper Sima and sophomore Keaton Kroll brought home Dagata for a 2-1 lead. Jay DeRosa’s two-run single up the middle made it 4-1 in favor of the Falcons, then a sacrifice fly from junior Logan Rembish plated Kroll for the final run of the frame. Naugatuck scored its run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by James Crilly.
In the top of the seventh, Rembish walked and was pinch run for by senior Mitch Crowley. Crowley moved to second base after Corrado was hit for the second time in the game. Anderson singled home Crowley for a 6-2 lead.
The two teams are scheduled to meet again on April 24 in Bristol.
ALSO ON SATURDAY: The St. Paul softball and girls tennis teams played at Naugatuck. Here are my photos from all three events.
Caption: St. Paul freshman Coby Degata picked up his third win of the season in a big 6-2 victory over previously undefeated Naugatuck on Saturday in Naugatuck. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
