St. Paul ekes by Woodland with walk-off win, 8-7, ending Woodland’s perfect regular season record to date

white baseball ball on brown leather baseball mittPexel photo

Posted By: David Fortier May 15, 2024

The St. Paul Falcons ended the Woodland Hawks bid for a perfect regular season with an 8-7 walk-off win in Bristol yesterday afternoon at St. Paul Catholic High School.

Freshman Brian Anderson was the hero for St. Paul driving in the winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Anderson was also the winning pitcher, pitching the final three innings and allowing two unearned runs on two hits.

It was the first win of Anderson’s high school career. Reliever Matt Silva took the loss for Woodland.

St. Paul took advantage of two Woodland errors to score three unearned runs in the bottom of the first. The inning featured a single by catcher Cal Chance, an RBI double by third baseman AJ Corrado and a sacrafice fly to left by designated hitter Seth Meuer.

In the bottom of the second, Jay DeRosa walked and Keaton Kroll was hit by a pitch to put two on with one out. DeRosa scored on a wild pitch, and Kroll scored on Corrado’s second RBI hit. St. Paul led 5-0 after two innings.

Woodland scored its first run in the top of the third. With one out, Tyler DeCrescenzo doubled to left. Ethan Stepputtis followed with an RBI single. Stepputtis stole second and advanced to third on Bill Untiet’s groundout.

Michael Belcher walked to put men on first and third with two outs. Belcher got into a rundown allowing Stepputtis to score before Belcher was tagged out. Woodland trailed 5-2.

With two out in the bottom of the frame, Mike DeRosa reached second base safely on an infield error. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Brother Jay DeRosa walked to put men on first and third with two out.

Then St. Paul ran the same play that Woodland executed in the top of the inning…and Mike scored before Jay was tagged out. St. Paul led 6-2.

Erik Pulkkinen led off in the top of the fourth with a solo home run over the right field fence to make it 6-3. It looked as if Rembish was going to get out of the inning with only one run scored, but an infield error allowed Brett Lato to reach safely, and extend the inning.

An RBI single by DeCrescenzo and another infield error allowed Woodland to score three in the frame and make it 6-5.

Rembish led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. He advanced to second when Meuer was hit by a pitch, third on Anderson’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on an outfield throwing error. St. Paul led 7-5 after five innings.

In the top of the seventh, lead-off hitter Stepputtis reached on an infield error. Untiet singled sending Stepputtis to third. A routine fly ball to the outfield was caught for the first out, but the throw in was wild and went out of bounds.

That allowed Stepputtis to score and pinch runner Cole Sansone to go to third. Sansone scored when Max Martin grounded out, and the score was tied 7-7.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rembish led off with a walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then third on Meuer’s sacrifice bunt. Next up was Anderson, who slapped a 2-2 pitch into right field to end the game 8-7.

Of Note:

For Woodland

Erik Pulkkinen was 1 for 3  with a solo home run

Tyler DeCrescenzo was 2 for 4 with a double, 1 RBI, and 1 run scored

Ethan Stepputtis was 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored

For St. Paul

AJ Corrado was 2 for 4 with a double, 2 RBIs, and 1 run scored

                                 1  2  3  4  5  6  7   R   H   E

Woodland (19-1)      0  0  2  3  0  0  2    7   9    4

St Paul (14-6)           3  2  1  0  1  0  1   8   5    5

1 out when the winning run scored

Pitching                     W/L   IP  K  BB  HB   H   R  ER

Woodland

   Jason Beaudry                3   1    3     1    3    6    2

   Tyler Yoxall                      3   2    2     1    1    1    0

   Matt Silva                  L    .1  0    1     0    1    1    1

St. Paul

   Logan Rembish              4    2    2     0    7    5   3

   Brian Anderson        W   3    1    1     0    2    2   0

All TBE readers, supporters and donors                

The Bristol Edition will be limiting the number of stories non-members and free readers may access each week. This decision is based on our financial projections and, most certainly, to remind people that TBE is serious about providing accurate, timely and thorough reporting for Bristol. To do this we have devised a financial support structure that makes unlimited access extremely affordable, beginning with a $6 monthly donation.                

  • Non-members will be able to access four (4) articles per week.                
  • Free readers and people who have subscribed by email will be able to access four (4) articles per week.                
  • Donors and financial supporters will have unlimited access as long as they log in.                

Note: Donors may have to contact TBE if they find they are being limited, since we will need to set up a membership account for you. Email editor@bristoledition.org for instructions. Sorry for any inconvenience. People with financial difficulties may write editor@bristoledition.org to be considered for free access.