The St. Paul baseball team had a little trouble pulling away through the first five innings, but an eight run sixth inning earned the Falcons a victory over Seymour, 12-3, in the first round of the NVL Tournament Saturday afternoon in Bristol.

Joey Tonnotti picked up the win for the Falcons – his eighth of the season – allowing just two runs (1 earned) on five hits while striking out 11. Starter John DeBarber took the loss for the Wildcats.

Tonnotti started strong,striking out the side in the top of the 1st inning.

The St. Paul offense then took over and scored four runs in the bottom of the first. Devin Kulas and Ryan Daniels had back-to-back singles on DeBarber’s first two pitches. After Mario Izzo flew out to deep center, back-to-back walks to Casey Cerruto and Tonnotti plated St. Paul’s first run. Steve Morelli hit a SAC fly to right to make it 2-0, and then Jamie Leggett had a 2 RBI single to make it 4-0. 

Trailing 4-0, DeBarber kept his team in the game by retiring the next eleven St. Paul batters in order. St Paul would not score again until the 6th inning.

Seymour broke through and scored in the top of the 4th inning. With two out, Dylan Reilly singled. Then an infield error allowed Colby Ruggerio to reach safely. Shane White followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-1.

In the top of the 5th, Seymour’s Jake Chacho singled with one out and stole second to get into scoring position. Connor Edo singled home Chacho, and St Paul’s lead was cut to 4-2.

Tyler Kiluk relieved Tonnotti in the top of the 6th. Justin Bennett greeted Kiluk with a single, and came out for pinch runner Robby Carrafiello. Then came the play of the game. Reilly hit a ball to the fence in right center for a double. Center fielder Leggett fired the ball to shortstop Daniels who relayed it to catcher Cerruto, and Carrafiello was out at the plate. Reilly later came in to score on Ruggerio’s RBI single, but Seymour was unable to get the tying run across, and trailed 4-3 at the end of 5 1/2.

The Falcon offense finally exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the 6th, blowing the game wide open. Cerruto and Tonnotti had back-to-back singles to open the frame. Morelli then doubled driving in the first run. A walk to Jonathan Remillard loaded the bases for Kulas. Kulas doubled driving in 2 more, and Daniels worked an 8 pitch walk to reload the bases. At this point, DeBarber had reached the 110 pitch count limit, and was relieved by Shane White. A wild pitch allowed Remillard to score from 3rd with the 4th run of the inning, and Izzo walked to reload the bases. Casey Cerruto then blasted a 3-1 pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam, and that put the game out of reach.

Jamie Leggett pitched the top of the 7th recording all three outs via the strikeout, and St. Paul walked away with a 12-3 victory.

St Paul advances to play Woodland in the semi-finals on Monday.

Of Note:

For Seymour, Dylan Reilly was 3 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored.

For St. Paul, Casey Cerruto was 2 for 3 with a grand slam, 4 RBIs, and 2 runs scored.

Devin Kulas was 3 for 4 with a double, 2 RBIs, and 2 runs scored.

Steve Morelli was 1 for 3 with a double, 2 RBIs, and 1 run scored.

5/21/2022 at St Paul Catholic High School
                             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Seymour (10-11)  0 0 1 1 0    1 0 3   9   1
St. Paul (21-0)        4 0 0 0 0 8 X  12 9    1