STAMFORD - Faced with a roster where only three players are old enough to qualify to have their driver's license, the Trinity Catholic High School baseball team has spent much of this 2008 Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference season feeling like its been kicked in the head.

There have two nervewracking losses in extra innings and two more defeats where the contest turned grim in the seventh inning.

Considering all that, it wouldn't have been surprising - after St. Joseph built a 4-0 lead in the first inning yesterday and Trinity Catholic first baseman and No. 3 hitter in the order, Nick Cortese, was accidentally kneed in the head while reaching for a wayward throw - if the Crusaders just collectively said "Oh, here we go again!"

However, the expected rains along with gloom and doom miraculously disappeared yesterday at Mickey Lione Jr. Memorial Field as Trinity Catholic rallied for a 7-6 triumph over St. Joseph.

And now, there is a ray of hope in the 2008 campaign for Trinity Catholic. Sitting at 5-12 overall, the Crusaders can qualify for the state tournament if they sweep their remaining three contests against Central, Warde and Brien McMahon next week.

"The victory today shows us that we CAN do it," said Trinity Catholic coach Tracy Nichols. "This was our first triumph over a team with a winning record."

The loss came at a terrible time for St. Joseph (10-8 overall, 8-8 in league).

The defeat means that St. Joseph needs to win its remaining two contests and will probably need some help as the Cadets will battle with Darien (8-7), Wilton (7-7), Norwalk (7-7) and Greenwich (7-7) for the eighth and final FCIAC baseball playoff berth.

"Give credit to Trinity. It was a great effort after trailing 4-0 in the first inning," said St. Joseph coach Bob Studley. "If we come in thinking we're a better team than Trinity, we have to show them that on the field. It was a tournament game for them and they played like it."

St. Joseph used Carlos Ramirez' two-run triple and Anthony Vinci's sacrifice fly to build its 4-0 edge. The Cadets stranded runners on second and third in the second inning.

Trinity took advantage of a pair of St. Joseph errors to close to 4-3 in the bottom of the second inning.

With two out and two on via walks against St. Joseph starter Jack Shannon, Trinity's R.J. Calo laced an RBI single to center.

The St. Joseph outfielder attempted to nail Mike Bytan trying for third base. That throw went awry as did the throw from third base to home trying for Bytan again.

The upshot was that Calo circled the bases on the play making it 4-3.

Frank Fedak's RBI double gave St. Joseph a 5-3 edge in the top of the third.

John O'Leary's sacrifice fly brought home Chris Lambrinakos, who parlayed an infield hit, a throwing error and an advancing grounder into a run for 5-4 in the bottom of the third.

The contest turned in the fourth. Trinity sophomore starter Ryan Walsh (2-2) settled down and retired 11 straight Cadets to stabilize the clash into the seventh inning.

Meanwhile, Trinity's offense went to work in the fourth with two outs and none on.

Walsh began the uprising with an opposite-field single to right and pinchrunner Joe Magowan went to second on a wild pitch.

Bytam walked and Calo was hit in the arm by a pitch to load the bases.

Lambrinakos drew a walk forcing in a run for 5-5.

Alex Santos lifted a sacrifice fly to right, giving Trinity a 6-5 edge. Angelo Tsingerliotis walked bringing reliever James Campbell into the fray.

Designated hitter O'Leary greeted him with an RBI single to center for 7-5.

From there, the game belonged to Walsh.

"In the fourth inning, Ryan finally got comfortable on the mound. He got in rhythm," Nichols said. "He found his confidence. He figured out he didn't need to throw perfect pitches. His changeup was responsible for four or five key outs."

St. Joseph made a final stand in the seventh.

Vinci ripped an RBI double with one out for 7-6. Pinchriunner Sean Dinihanian moved to third on a one-out groundout.

But he was stranded as Walsh induced a grounder to second for the final out.

"The Trinity kids said 'We can do this.' " Studley said. "We did too many things thgat came back to haunt us."