Baseball Bows out of State Tourney

The draw that the Woodland baseball team received in this year’s Class M state tournament was by no means encouraging--a first-round bout against 17th-seeded St. Joseph of Trumbull with top-ranked Seymour looming on the horizon if the Hawks managed to escape the opening round. But St. Joe’s proved to be a tougher matchup than the Black and Gold anticipated, as the Cadets sent Woodland packing with a 13-3 first-round drubbing on Monday in Beacon Falls.

St. Joe’s plated its first run in the top of the first on an infield single and never looked back. The Cadets added a run in the third on another RBI single and put up a three-spot in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.

The Hawks certainly had no shortage of chances to score and make the game competitive in the first four innings; they left eight runners on base in those first four frames, including six in scoring position, and in each inning had a runner on second with less than two outs. But Woodland could not push across a single run in any of the situations, and time was running out on the Hawks’ season.

The Black and Gold did begin to close the gap in the fifth. With runners on first and third and two outs, junior Mike Diurno struck out, but the pitch got away from catcher Joe Burns, allowing senior John Merriman to score from third. Junior Ryan Genua followed up with an RBI single to plate another run and make it 5-2.

ST. JOSEPH 13, WOODLAND 3 St. Joe's                         101 308 0--13 15 0 Woodland                    000 021 0--3 8 2 Pitchers: James Campbell, Matt Paz (5th inning), Chris McCormack (6th), Drew Thomson (7th) and Joe Burns, catcher; Pitchers: Nick Boucher, Kyle Georgia (6th) and Jason Skibek, catcher. SO: Campbell 4, McCormack 1, Thomson 1; Boucher 1, Georgia 1. HR: Joe Burns (SJ). Records: SJ 14-7; W 13-8.

But the wheels finally fell off for Woodland in the sixth. Senior Nick Boucher was knocked out of the game after allowing six runs on seven hits, and junior Kyle Georgia’s luck on the hill was no better; he was roughed up for eight runs on as many hits as St. Joe’s extended its lead to 13-2, closing the door on the Hawks’ year.

“I thought if they were in our league, they would have been contending for the title,” Woodland head coach Joe Steele said of St. Joseph, which plays its regular season in the mighty Fairfield Country Interscholastic Athletic Conference. “They were as good a team as we had seen all year. They hit the ball very well and had deep pitching.”

Woodland put together a string of hits in the sixth for its final run, as Boucher capped his career with a single and later scored. He and fellow senior Jason Skibek finished their four years with over 60 hits, placing them in the top six in school history.

For any consolation, St. Joe’s went on to beat number-one-seeded Seymour on Tuesday, 8-7, to bounce the Wildcats from the tourney. As for the Hawks, Steele is very proud of his team for its efforts.

“We went way above and beyond the expectations,” Steele said. “We thought we could qualify for states and maybe make the league tournament, but that might have even been a stretch. We didn’t even make it close. This collective unit of five team players as seniors brought balance to the team. Those guys that are well-rounded are hard to replace because they all contributed in significant ways. They were committed to playing as a team. This was not a team of individuals.”