By Andy Hutchison

WATERBURY — Staples baseball is one victory away from winning it all. The No. 11 Wreckers dealt No. 10 Fairfield Ludlowe an 8-3 defeat in Tuesday’s Class LL State Tournament semifinal at Municipal Stadium.

Staples will face No. 5 Trumbull at Middletown’s Palmer Field Saturday at noon. Trumbull defeated Ridgefield Tuesday night.

Staples saw Ludlowe jump out to a 3-0 lead through two innings of play but rallied with a run in the third, four in the fifth, two more in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Staples’ pitching was outstanding, with two hurlers combining to allow just one earned run.

Lukas Snow pitched four stellar, scoreless innings of one-hit ball, walking one and striking out three; he earned the win. Bruce Schlegelmilch allowed five hits and three runs, just one earned, walked two and fanned three.

Vincent Vega (two hits and four runs batted in), Cole Landgraf and Chase Landgraf all doubled. Leadoff batter Jules Cicero set the table with two hits, a walk and three runs scored.

Andy Hutchison

^{_{Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories, since the 1990s. He is the sports editor at the Newtown Bee. He writes for the Monroe Sun. He was director of communications and radio color commentator for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders) hockey team. He has won numerous writing awards, including regional and national first-place honors.}}