Minors
Rays vs. Astros
A sunny Sunday morning at the Battery Park City ball fields, provided a warm setting for a great Junior Minors-Lower match up between the Rays and the Astros. Onlookers were treated to a fine exhibit of play on both sides of the diamond. Early in the game, Astros shortstop Breny Group fielded a hard-hit grounder and was able to throw out the runner with the help of first baseman Milo Kern who made an incredible stretching catch while staying on the bag. Later that inning Milo hit a homerun hit to left center field. Astros Will Zimmerman showed his hitting ability with a solid base hit late in the game while Jack Doyle again showed his defensive skills by fielding several well hit grounders.
For the Rays, Noah Zaleman had two clutch catches at third base, both times resulting in an out, then in the fifth. the Rays’ Jacob Habbouch and Aaron Agudelo had singles and then Max Moss had a “bases clearing triple.” Lauren Picone then got a hit sending Max home, next Alex Picone and Noah Zaleman each got hits and then Andre Dang got a hit resulting in 2 R.B.I. Carter Weaver had a double and Harper Harrell and Eli Harrell had powerful hits thwarted by strong defensive plays. Astro catcher, Max Moss, also made a great catch on a foul ball.
Coaches for both teams are extremely proud of how well all the players performed and the sportsmanship they demonstrated throughout the game.
Reds vs. Dodgers
At 8 a.m. on Saturday morning at the B.P.C ball fields, the weather hadn’t reached its high of 82 when the Reds faced Spencer Kiehl on the mound for a start of what TJ Westfall later called “one of the best minors games I’ve seen in a few years.”
Kiehl retired the first batter and did not give up a run in the first. Douglass Stapler pitched to the Dodgers’ lineup, striking out their first batter as well. But Jackson Mansfield and William Sisson each took a base on balls, and in consecutive steals, made it to second and third, and then both made it home on an overthrow. Kiehl cranked a double to leftfield, bringing in Sisson. Yannick de Guchteneere walked, and Lucas Pryor’s base on balls loaded up the bases. Kiehl crossed home plate when Jordan Roseman hit a sacrifice grounder to Isabel at second. At the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers were ahead 3-0.
The Reds narrowed the gap in the top of the second. Luke Marable, fresh off spring break, took a base on balls, and stole to second during Ben Steinberg’s at-bat. During Iliana Memmo’s at-bat, Marable stole third and came home on the overthrow. Liam Doyle, fresh off the D.L, also walked and stole second and third. Tucker Rothbart followed suit, and Oliver Brown’s walk loaded up the bases for Jonah Frere-Holmes. His walk brought in the second run for the Reds, and that’s where the scoring ended in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the second, the Dodgers faced Tyler Rohan on the mound and he retired three batters in 17 pitches. Now with Yannick on the mound for the Dodgers, the Reds were shut-out in the third also, despite Tyler Adams’ power grounder for a base hit. But Yannick struck out two batters.
The Dodgers added another three in the third, keyed by Charles Fenn’s R.B.I single. Rohan was able to strike out the next two batters with his 40th pitch (the league max if they want to pitch in the next game), and Will Best came in to relieve him.
Yannick led off for the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning, with a searing line shot to right field that was expertly intercepted by Brown.
The Reds were shut-out in the top of the fifth, when Dickerson snatched Brown’s line drive up the first base line, then fielded a grounder. Mansfield retired the Reds’ last batter with a strike-out, and the Dodgers came up for their last licks down by only one run.
With two outs, Noah de Guchteneere and Fenn each punched singles to left field. Mansfield worked a base on balls. But, as the umpire called ball four, de Guchteneere made his move towards third. The Reds’ catcher, thinking he was trying to steal the base, threw the ball towards third, but de Guchteneere stole home on the overthrow. In the ensuing chaos, Fenn, came all the way from second base, and to the disbelief of Reds’ fans (and joy of Dodgers’ fans), was also able to avoid the catcher’s tag at home, and the game ended on a quintessential Little League walk-off double steal, double overthrow, two-error play.
The final score was Dodgers 8, Reds 7.
Junior Minor lower
Mets vs. Marlins
It was quite a scorcher out there as the Mets and Marlins took the B.P.C field at high noon. The Mets opened the game with a flourish, with 3 doubles in a row by Dylan Knox, Frey Ranaldo, and Max Goldstein helping the Mets get out to an early 5-0 lead. They added to their lead in the third, as Ayan Sawnhey drove in another run to push the lead to 6-0, and by the end of the frame, thanks to a long triple by Bruce Gomez which drove in CJ Boustany, the Mets lead was up to 9-0. But the Marlins began a determined comeback effort in the bottom of the 3rd, as Miles Briggs started things off with a single. Nicky Pomerantz and Dylan Hoffman followed up with singles, and Harris Rosenberg continued with an R.B.I single. R.B.I singles by Bo Nordberg and Beattie Bern-Millman and a sacrifice by Jesse Ingerman brought the Marlins to within 9-5. The heat was really on as temperatures reached the 80s and all the kids were sweating out there. In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Marlins brought the score to 9-8 with hits by Katie Fountain and Viraj Kathuria. The Mets met the challenge by staging a 2 out rally in the top of the 6th, when they got the bases loaded, and several hitters started driving in runs, building the run total all the way to 16. Gray Jones had a hard line drive single for one of the initial R.B.I. The Marlins made a valiant effort in the bottom of the 6th to get back in the game, scoring one run, but in the end, the Marlins prevailed.
Majors
Stars vs. Black Barons
The Stars played the Black Barons on a steamy Sunday evening with the Stars hanging on for the win in a 7-5 nail biter. The Stars were able to hold on to the lead because of some strong defensive play when it counted most. The Black Barons took an early lead when a lead off walk by Ryan Porcaro and a base hit by Bryan Burns, combined with aggressive base running forced the Stars into misplays that allowed them both to score. Pitcher Alex Hirsch recorded two strikeouts and was assisted by first baseman Will Merrill who made a spectacular catch of a pop fly behind first base as he pin-balled among the fans but managed to hold on to the ball. Hirsch worked a scoreless second inning with a key assist from catcher Luca Leeser who gunned down a runner trying to take second base on a pitch in the dirt. Meanwhile, the Stars got a run back in their half of the second when Mikio LaCapra drew a walk and was later brought home by Shai Goodman’s base hit.
Both offenses got going in the middle innings with the Stars scoring six times in the third and the fourth. Alex Hirsch’s base hit in the third was followed by Merrill’s triple and another hit by LaCapra. The Stars staged a two-out rally in the fourth with base hits by Balthazar Merrin, Shai Goodman, Merrill and Noah Kahan and walks by Brandon Moy, LaCapra andLeeser. The Barons answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. After a terrific play by Hirsch on a slow roller to third caught the speedy Uriah Fredericks for the first out, a couple of walks and a misplay at second base got the Barons rolling. Bryan Burns then hit a one hop smash deep in the hole at short, but a fantastic back-hand stab and strong throw by shortstop Dylan Pryor nailed Burns by a half step. Second baseman LaCapra then made a nice play on a grounder by Thomas Caruso to retire the side. Merrill came on in relief for the Stars and dueled with Bryan Burns for the Barons over the last two innings with each pitching scoreless fifth and sixth innings. The only damage done was when the Stars’ Balthazar Merrin led off the fifth with a long double to leftfield, but he did not score in the inning. It did not matter as the Stars held on for the win.
