You have to see it to believe it: St. Bede rallies to beat Hall on wild, 3-run play

PERU - When you’re around baseball long enough like Bill Booker, you’re bound to see something you’ve never seen before.

The veteran St. Bede coach did Monday at Schweickert Stadium in Peru.

His Bruins were down to their final out, trailing 3-1 to rival Hall when they scored three runs on a wild, game-ending play to seize a 4-3 victory.

AJ Hermes stroked a bases-loaded hit to left field to tally two runs to tie the game and then got in a rundown long enough to allow Gino Ferrari to race around all the way from second base to score the winning run.

“I’ve never seen a game end like that in 37 years coaching,” Booker said. “Give AJ credit for staying in the rundown there and Gino running hard from second. I may have raced him home. It was entertaining.”

Ranbir Saini got the Bruins’ rally started with a leadoff single, followed by a Gus Burr walk. Hall reliever Jack Jablonski then struck out both Carson Riva and Alan Spencer for the first two outs. Ferrari was hit by pitch, and then the fun started.

Hermes hit a two-run single to left to score both Saini and Burr to tie the game.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play. Make things happen, I guess,” Hermes said. “Wild ending. Crazy.”

Hermes then got himself into a pickle between bases, hoping to give Ferrari time to scoot around the bases. He stayed in the rundown as long as he could before diving into second base about the time Ferrari was sliding home.

“I went to second on the hit. On the throw, I said, ‘I have to get to third in case he’s safe there.’ I saw Booker. He was about half way down the line. Thought he might beat me home actually. Just kept going and it worked out for us. Put your head down and run about as fast as you can. That’s about it.”

Hermes said he never saw Ferrari score because “I was too busy keeping in the rundown, keeping it alive.”

The Bruins waited long enough for plate umpire Doug Rose’s call, who ruled Ferrari had scored before Hermes was tagged out at second, before mobbing Hermes on the field.

Hermes and Ferrari said beating a rival like Hall is always a good feeling.

“It means a lot. Got a lot of buddies on the team. Feels good to win that game,” Ferrari said.

“They’re big rivals. Big game. It means a lot,” Hermes said.

Hall coach Tom Keegan said it was a tough way to lose.

“We were able to pitch out of traffic it seemed like most of the game and we were able to strand them. Unfortunately in the last inning, that was not the case,” he said.

“It was nice we were able to play them after not playing them last year. It’s good for the kids. The kids know one another. The adults know one another. It’s only natural to play. Gives us a nice venue to play at. For March 31, it kind of had a little postseason feel to it.”

Hall (5-4) broke through with two runs in the top of the fourth. Geno Ferrari reached on a three-base error on a fly to right and scored on a hit up the middle by Jablonski. A throwing error at short allowed Jablonski to score, just beating the throw home by St. Bede first baseman Gino Ferrari.

St. Bede (7-0) got on the board in the bottom of the fifth on a leadoff double to right by Geno Dinges, a swinging bunt single by Burr and a sac fly to center by Riva.

The Red Devils scored again in the sixth on an one-out triple by Jablonski with courtesy runner Chace Sterling coming home on a wild pitch.

Burr led the Bruins at the plate with two hits and two walks. Jablonski had two hits for Hall.

Saini, who struck out the only batter he faced in the top of the seventh, got the win in relief. Jablonski, who pitched out of a two-on, two-out jam when he relieved starter Izzaq Zrust in the fifth, took the loss.

Note: A combined food drive held between the rival schools during the game collected 1,179 pounds of food.