GLASTONBURY – Almost three weeks ago, the Glastonbury baseball team lost its fourth straight game. It was the team’s second four-game losing streak of the season.

The Guardians struggled, winning only seven games, out of 20. They had to win their last game against E.O. Smith to get into the state tournament. If they got in, they would be the lowest seed in Class LL and they would have to play No. 1 Amity, last year’s Class LL state champion, in the first round.

Naturally, it was another close game. E.O. Smith had the tying run at the plate in the seventh inning. But Glastonbury managed to win, 4-2. Then they had to wait for the tournament to start. But that turned out to be a good thing. Because they didn’t qualify for the CCC tournament, they were able to practice and work on some issues and while some injured players got better.

The team that bussed to Woodbridge on Monday was a different team than the one that muddled through the four-game losing streak. This team didn’t really care about the seedings and the 32 and the 1. They had played difficult competition all season, losing multiple games by one or two runs. Now, just in time, it was coming together.

“We had a pasta party the night before and we were talking and we all just genuinely believed we were going to win the game,” junior pitcher Danny Wallace said. “It was like, ‘Sure we’re the 32. But what does that matter? It’s just a number.’”

Glastonbury scored in the first inning; Wallace retired the side and off the Guardians went on their playoff run, beating Amity 5-1 on Monday in the Class LL first-rounder.

“After the first inning, we had a feeling from that moment, we’re like, ‘We can win this game,’” said junior Ryan Papa, another of Glastonbury’s pitchers who would pitch the next day in the win over Fairfield Ludlowe in the second round.

The bus ride home, well, “It was the best bus ride ever,” Papa said. “Everyone’s happy, music’s blasting. We’re like, ‘Oh my God, we just beat the defending champions, No. 1 seed. They had two losses all (regular) season.’ But it wasn’t even a shock. It was more like, ‘OK, we beat this team, we can keep winning.’ We knew it wasn’t a fluke.”

It was another long bus ride Tuesday, this time to Fairfield.

Early on, Papa didn’t have his best stuff.

“I couldn’t find the strike zone,” he said. “I was walking a lot of guys.

“Then we got out of some jams, second and third inning. Fourth inning, let up two runs. ‘Oh no, we’re losing 4-2.’”

There were two outs, runners on second and third. It was the bottom of the fourth. Fairfield Ludlowe’s Kieran Scruggs hit a shot to the gap in center field.

That was when Glastonbury’s Anthony DuBaldo came out of nowhere and made a spectacular diving catch for the third out and the momentum swung back Glastonbury’s way. The Guardians scored four runs in the fifth. Papa got locked in on the mound.

“I just went for it,” DuBaldo said. “I was diving. If it got by me, it got by me, but if it didn’t, that saves two runs. I felt it in the glove and just squeezed it as hard as I could. I did not want to let that ball go.”

“That saved two runs,” Papa said. “From that catch, everyone was on their feet and we scored four runs in the next inning.”

They won, beating the FCIAC champions, 6-4.

“Anthony’s catch was something I’d never seen before,” said Wallace, who was playing shortstop Tuesday. “That was such a momentum swing. It was like, ‘Why not? Why not go for that ball?’”

Dennis Accomando has been the Glastonbury coach for the last 10 years. This past week has been a lot of fun.

“To me, it’s the energy,” he said. “We haven’t wavered on the energy and the belief. They’re definitely believing.”

Glastonbury will play another road game Saturday at 1 p.m., this time against No. 8 Southington, the CCC tournament champion, in the Class LL quarterfinal. The Knights beat Glastonbury on April 11, 6-5. Glastonbury had a four-run lead but lost in another close one.

“This game is going to be completely different,” Papa said. “Both teams have sharpened everything up.”

That game was a lifetime ago. Even three weeks ago, and the losing streak, seems like a long time ago

“If you would have told me three weeks ago when we were on a four-game losing streak, having to win the final game, that we’d be here, I would have said you were crazy,” Papa said.