By Joe DiBlasi
 
The St. Paul's Crusaders were trailing 8-5 going into the bottom of the seventh, and St. Joe was looking for their first MIAA-A Conference win, when the Crusaders loaded the bases with no outs.
Collin Majev led off the seventh for the Crusaders with his third hit of  the day, and freshman Ben Breckler singled to put runners on first and second. Shortstop Tyler Springs laid down a sacrifice bunt, and  ended up safe at first to load the bases for Colby Roane. 
 
The senior backstop  ruined the day for the Gaels Zach Spahn, when he blasted a walk-off grand slam homer  to left, that actually bounced off the top of the fence before going out of the park, to give Coach Paul Bernsdorf's squad a dramatic come from behind win.
 
St. Joe had overcome a five-run first inning deficit, and the Gaels  had scored three in the top of the seventh to overcome an 8-6 Crusader lead.
 
"It was surreal," said Bernsdorf.  "I give St. Joe a lot of credit for their perseverance." "It was an emotional game for both teams."
 
Spahn and Ryan Kemp went deep for St. Joe, while Ryan Clayton also homered  for St. Paul's.
 
The Crusaders improved to 3-2 in the MIAA-A Conference.   St. Joe dropped to 0-4. The Gaels will try to come out of an early season tailspin when they visit arch-rival Cardinal Gibbons on Friday. Gibbons beat McDonogh on Wednesday  11-1. Ryan Staton got the win.
 
In other MIAA-A Conference action, Archbishop Curley (5-0) remained tied for first with Calvert Hall after defeating Loyola 4-2 behind  right-hander Ryan Thompson, who went the distance, holding the Dons to 5 hits.  Catcher Brad Waltman homered for the Friars, and losing pitcher Bobby Kirby hit one out  for the Dons.
 
Calvert Hall  (5-0) smashed five homers (two by Pat Blair) and  won a slugfest over Spalding 12-5. Cavalier catcher Eddie Palmer hit two round-trippers for the Cavs.
 
 John Carroll captured their second straight win, a 2-1 squeaker over Gilman. 
 
 
SJ   2  1  0  0  2  1  3          9  13  1
SP  5  1  1  0  0   1 4          12 15  2