For a couple hours, people weren’t thinking about COVID-19.

It’s fall high school baseball season.

Two rivals.

A beautiful night at Paul Smith Park.

And a memorable game.

The host St. Anthony Bulldogs trailed throughout, but used a four-run sixth inning Wednesday night to rally for a 12-11 victory over the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes.

St. Anthony trailed 11-8 as it came to bat in the bottom of the sixth. Three walks and a hit batsman gave the Bulldogs a golden opportunity for a rally and they took advantage. Brody Niebrugge drove in a run with a ground ball, Will Hoene and Kyle Stewart delivered key RBI singles to tie the game and Brock Jansen raced home with the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.

Eli Levitt, St. Anthony’s third pitcher, gave up a lead-off walk in the seventh, but then retired the final three batters to preserve the come-from-behind one-run victory.

It was an uphill battle all night for the Bulldogs. The Wooden Shoes built an early 5-0 lead, before St. Anthony came back to tie. T-Town then went on top 9-5 and led 9-8 and 11-8 before the hosts put together their winning four-run surge.

Sam Bushur, who went 3-for-5 and drove in five runs, staked the Shoes to a quick 2-0 lead in the opening inning. He also had an RBI single in the second as THS expanded its lead to 5-0.

But back came the Bulldogs in the third. Stewart singled and Josh Blanchette lined a double, followed by a two-run double by Logan Antrim to get St. Anthony on the scoreboard. Niebrugge added an RBI single and Colton Fearday capped the five-run inning with a long home run over the right field fence.

It didn’t stay tied for long. Bushur added another RBI double, Max Niebrugge drove in a run with a base hit and two runs scored on passed balls, as the Shoes tallied twice in the fourth and fifth to take a 9-5 lead.

St. Anthony responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Brody Niebrugge and Angelo Mendella had run-scoring hits and another run scored on an error to make it 9-8.

Dylan Pruemer delivered a sacrifice fly and Max Niebrugge drove in his second run of the game with a single to give the Shoes their 11-8 advantage and set the stage for St. Anthony’s comeback.

Bushur took the loss for the Shoes. Evan Addis was the starter and went 4.1 innings. Derek Konkel also pitched for THS.

Antrim was the starter for St. Anthony and went 3.1 innings. Fearday turned in 1.2 innings of work and Levitt pitched the final two frames to get the win.

The Shoes dipped to 1-1 on the fall season. They are scheduled to play Friday at Neoga and then co-host the Wooden Bat Tournament on Saturday with St. Anthony, which is now 2-0.

The Shoes will play North Clay at 9 a.m. at the THS diamond, while St. Anthony will take on Dieterich, also at 9 a.m., at Paul Smith Field in Effingham. The two winners will play at noon at the T-Town diamond, while the losing teams will play at noon at Paul Smith Field.