Brendan Foley led St. Paul to a 7-0 victory over Immaculate in a Class S semifinal match-up in Middletown Tuesday evening.
Foley pitched brilliantly, scattering 4 hits while striking out 14 in 6 and 1/3 innings of work to pick up his 9th win of the season. Starter Tommy Conley took the loss for Immaculate.
St. Paul jumped out immediately to seize the lead, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Devin Kulas led off with a single, and advanced to 3rd on an errant pick off attempt. Ryan Daniels singled Kulas home, and then stole second. With 1 out, Casey Cerruto singled home Daniels to give St Paul a 2-0 lead. Joey Tonnotti singled with Cerruto going to second, and then both moved up on a wild pitch. Cerruto scored on Steve Morelli’s ground out, and Tonnotti scored on Jamie Leggett’s RBI single to make it 4-0. The four runs proved to be more than enough for Mr. Foley.
After the shaky 1st inning, Immaculate’s Conley settled down and held the Falcons hitless over the next 3 innings.
But in the bottom of the 5th, he walked both Daniels and Mario Izzo to open the inning. RBI singles by Cerruto and Tonnotti followed, and St. Paul’s lead grew to 6-0.
The Falcons took advantage of a lead off walk to Jonathan Remillard to score one more run in the bottom of the sixth. Cal Chance sacrificed Remillard to 2nd, Kulas singled Remillard to 3rd, and he scored on a throwing error by Immaculate.
Immaculate’s best opportunity to score came in the top of the 7th. After striking out the lead off batter, Foley reached his pitch count limit facing Wyatt Jarboe. Jarboe tripled to left field to end Foley’s day on the mound. But Jamie Leggett came in to relieve Foley and retired the next 2 batters in order to strand Jarboe at third and preserve the shutout.
St. Paul advances to the Championship Game where they will face #3 seed Somers Saturday afternoon.
Of Note
For Immaculate
Wyatt Jarboe was 2 for 2 with a triple
For St. Paul
Casey Cerruto was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and 1 run scored
Joey Tonnotti was 2 for 3 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored
Devin Kulas was 2 for 4 with 1 run scored.