Yankees vs. Mets
The Yankee’s opened up their season against their crosstown rivals, the Mets on a splendid Saturday morning at Rockefeller Park. It was a hitters day as the Yankee’s pounded hit after hit starting with Daniel Biro, Nikash Kathuria, John & Madison Heller followed by Matthew Fierro, Finn Currier, Finn Hartnett and Carter Burden. Matthew Romeo Hit two booming shots and both he and Carter Burden had two put outs. Our rival Mets also hit the ball hard and played well. All in all a spirited opening day game.
Minors
Reds vs. Red Sox
After a gorgeous spring opening day parade the Red Sox hosted the Reds at Battery Park City. Pitcher Joseph Dudley’s fine outing, held the Reds to only one hit in the first inning, with a punch to left field by Tyler Rohan.
The Reds answered with their own powerhouse pitching from Douglass Stapler, who allowed one hit to Joseph Torres, but otherwise kept them scoreless. In the top of the second, Dudley finished off his pitch count with two quick outs, and was relieved by Will Goldstein, who also shut out the Reds.
The Reds came alive in the third. Will Best cranked a single that scored Tucker Rothbart. Rohan’s second single to left field brought in Isabel Best and loaded up the bases. Iliana Memo’s sharp eye at the plate walked in another run while Stapler’s grounder to third brought in Frere-Holmes.
Rohan got two strikeouts in the third. The Reds expanded the lead in the fourth, with a smashing single from Jonathan Romano, who stole second and ran all the way home when Ben Steinberg went to second on an overthrow.
Down 8-0, the Red Sox fought back in the bottom of the inning, starting with a Trevor Goldstein one-bagger, followed by a nice double to the outfield by Torres. Jake Katzenberg lined it to third base and drove in Goldstein for their first run.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Tyler Adams stepped up to the plate with the best hit of the day, sending a soaring grand slam drive into left center for his first hit of the day and the Reds first home run of the season.
Will Best, now pitching for the Reds, struck out the third batter, and Frere-Holmes backed him up by snagging a line drive to third base. The next batter’s high fly ball to second base was nabbed by Rohan, snatching the hopes of the Red Sox from thin air. The final score was 13-2, Reds.
Tigers vs. Dodgers
The Tigers and Dodgers met on opening day in a game that featured big hits, some brilliant defense and stifling relief pitching with the Tigers prevailing 20-9. Over the first several innings, Dodgers Lucas Pryor, Charles Fenn, Spencer Kiehl and Jackson Mansfield put many balls in play. Their potent offense, however, was contained by the Tigers’ infield of Justin Ho at first base, Brandon Mirabella at second, and Nick Leong at shortstop.
Michael Bogdanos, at third base, took hits away from the Dodgers. In the first inning, the Dodgers’ Spencer Kiehl hit a bases loaded single. Only one run scored when Tigers infielder Nick Leong made a dazzling relay to catcher Liam Clayton and nailed the streaking Jackson Mansfield at the plate.
By the third inning, the Tigers took a big lead by taking advantage of the wildness of the Dodgers’ pitching staff and aggressive base running. That lead was short-lived, however, as the Dodgers tied the score in the bottom of the third with the key hit being Kiehl’s grand slam home run. The Tigers responded by showing strong plate discipline through the rest of the game, drawing numerous walks to take a commanding lead, Closer Ethan Wallis ultimately came in for the Tigers and put up zeros for the last two innings to ensure the win.
Junior Minors Lower
Marlin vs. Astros
The Marlins played a classic stellar defense in the first two innings and took an early lead behind the bats of Beattie Bern-Millman, Miles Briggs, and Katie Fountain. The Astros fought back and took the lead, due to clutch hitting and defense from several Astros, including Jon Jablonski, Milo Kern, Oliver Ripps and Breny Group.
Not to be outdone, the Marlins battled back behind a home run from Benjamin Mulligan and a key hit by Jesse Ingerman, which led to Dylan Hoffman scoring the game-tying run. After five innings, the game ended in a well-earned tie and both teams were winners on this great opening day.
White Sox vs. Red Sox
The White Sox got off to a fast start to the season against the relentless pitching machine when Dylan Guttierrez singled, moved to second on Alex Brown’s single, and scored on a two out single by Russell Goldmeer (who was 3-3 on the day with 1 run scored and 2 R.B.I. and never stopped hustling on defense).
The Red Sox countered with tight defense and hits from Max Aurnhammer and Luke Sullivan that brought him home.
Then, in the bottom of the first in what may have been the most creative double play in the season so far, Ryan Vig speared a liner with none out and a runner on a second. In a second cat-like reaction, Ryan fired to first base to Paul Stukas, who alertly spotted that the runner had not tagged at second and won the race to the bag for the twin killing.
The Red Sox had great plays from first
baseman William Hou and a home run from August Biggo. The White Sox offense stayed in high gear, highlighted by Cate Albright’s R.B.I. grounder in the fourth inning, knocking in Russell G. and Luca Biro with what proved to be critical runs.
Majors:
Crawfords vs. Stars
On Sunday night the Crawfords and the Stars battled each other until the last out of the game, with the Crawfords winning 4-1.
The first three innings featured a pitcher’s duel between Justin Wenig for the Crawfords and Will Merrill for the Stars with each posting goose eggs. The Crawfords’ only hit came from Randolph Higgins who blasted a two-out double to right field in the third. He was stranded at second base. Merrill was able to beat out a ground ball back to the pitcher for the Stars’ only hit off Wenig who posted 12 strikeouts over four innings. Merrill helped himself with four assists on groundouts back to the mound and was aided when Sean Gannon smoothly fielded a grounder to third and Noah Kahan made a nice scoop of the throw in the dirt.
The Crawfords finally broke through in the fourth inning as two hit batsmen were driven in by Connor Cimino’s hard grounder past the outstretched glove of Balthazar Merrin. After another hit batter, Roman Junceau’s base hit scored two more runs before reliever Alex Hirsch retired the side.
Both teams flashed some leather in the fifth inning. The Crawfords’ shortstop, Noam Saul, made a nifty put out of Shai Goodman’s tricky grounder up the middle. For the Stars, Brandon Moy snared a hard line drive on the run in left field and catcher Noah Kahan stayed with a sky high pop up behind home plate for a put out. Max Dell-Thibodeau had an infield hit for the Stars and scampered all the way to third, but he was stranded there.
The Stars threatened to tie the score in the sixth inning when Dylan Pryor and Alex Hirsch reached on walks and brought the tying run to the plate. Noam Saul, however, entered the game in relief and induced two strike outs from the heart of the Stars line up to save the game.
