By Andy Hutchison

WATERBURY — The Staples baseball team flipped the script from the last time the Wreckers faced Fairfield Warde in the state playoffs.

Underdog Staples, ranked 19th in playoff standings, pulled off a dramatic 4-2 win over the No. 2 Mustangs in 10 innings of the Class LL State Tournament semifinals Tuesday at Municipal Stadium Complex.

The Wreckers return to the state title game after losing to Warde in 10 innings of last year’s pinnacle battle, and are aiming for their third Connecticut championship since 2017, having also won it all in 2019.

Staples will take  on No. 4 Amity of Woodbridge in the big game at noon Saturday at Palmer Field in Middletown. The Wreckers lost 6-2 to Amity early in the regular season.

On Tuesday, senior Rhys Jamali came off the bench to drive in Luke Oakley with the clutch go-ahead run for Staples. Jake Goldshore got a hit for the insurance run.

Oakley had two hits, Jules Cicero collected three hits and drove in a run, Cooper Brundige had an RBI, Nate Barrett scored two runs and Andrew Oppenheimer had a hit and run scored.

Oppenheimer, the starting pitcher, went nine strong innings, allowing six hits and two runs with a pair of walks and three strikeouts.

Mason Tobias pitched two-thirds of an inning and worked out of trouble to close the game after entering with runners on base.

The Wreckers broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh inning only to see the Mustangs score in the bottom half to force the extra innings.

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.