St. Bernard Peaking At Right Time

By Vickie Fulkerson, Day Scholastic Sports Editor

Published on 6/3/2007 by The Day

Middletown — Having been to the semifinals a year ago and having just about everybody back made St. Bernard High School the odds-on favorite to return to that summit again this year.

Except there were times this season when coach Mike Garvie went just about crazy watching his team “go through the motions” in certain practices and games, perhaps biding its time for the playoffs.

Apparently, it was worth Garvie's time to wait.

St. Bernard played what the coach deemed its best game of the season Saturday night in a 7-1 victory over Career of New Haven in the quarterfinals of the Class S state baseball tournament at Palmer Field, catapulting the Saints back to the semifinals.

St. Bernard (21-2), the top seed, will meet No. 12 Trinity Catholic of Stamford in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Muzzy Field in Bristol.

The Saints lost in the semifinals last year to eventual champion Windsor Locks, 3-2, at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.

“We returned a lot of kids, so we knew we were going to have a good team,” St. Bernard right fielder Jeff Daley said.

Against Career, it was Daley who provided the foundation for the win with a three-run home run, capping a four-run first inning. Easygoing sophomore pitcher Jeff DeLucia — he had his flip-flops on shortly after the game ended — took it from there, pitching a complete game while allowing just four hits.

“He definitely throws strikes and mixes pitches,” Daley said of DeLucia (6-0). “And we make the plays behind him.”

Daley joked that hitting behind all-state players Mike Aldrich and Tyler Turgeon in the Saints' order, that they do all the work. Aldrich hits third, followed by Turgeon and Daley.

With one out in the first inning Saturday, Dan Eagan singled and stole second base. Aldrich was hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count and Turgeon singled to drive in Eagan. Daley then hit a line shot over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, giving the Saints a 4-0 lead.

He said it was the third curveball of the at-bat from Career pitcher Mike Olyszk.

“So I got to see it twice,” he said. “It's a good curveball. It has some break. You just have to wait on it and we've been working on that.”

St. Bernard tacked on two more runs in the fourth when Daley struck out, but reached on a passed ball. Harrison Smith doubled him home, went to third on a fly ball to right field by Ben Nossek and scored on another passed ball.

Career scored its lone run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Dan Tilley, a slow roller to shortstop on which Tilley just beat the throw, scoring John Sanford on the play.

St. Bernard scored again in its half of the inning, though, to make it 7-1, getting singles by Anthony Ruffo and Aldrich — a blooper to center field on which Ruffo astutely went from first to third — and a sacrifice fly to right field by Turgeon.

St. Bernard, meanwhile, played errorless defense behind DeLucia, erasing a leadoff single in the fourth with a 4-6-3 double play, for example.

“We had a good day,” said DeLucia, the 16-year-old younger brother of all-conference golfer Chris DeLucia. “It's not pressure to me because I know they're going to back me up. I knew in the first inning that I had good stuff.”

DeLucia pitched three perfect innings before allowing an infield single to Otis Brown to lead off the fourth. DeLucia finished with three strikeouts and three walks.

“This is the first time this season we've put it all together like that,” said Garvie. “Jeffrey was on tonight on the mound. Baserunning. Everything we've worked on the whole season. Having all those position players back helps a lot.”

Montville