by Lou Accumanno
In a close battle, Next Gen Elite fought back after being down three runs in the third inning and secured another victory this season over the East End Aviators with a final score of 7-6.
Azerios Agrio was on the mound for Nex Gen Elite to start the game. He made quick work of the first three batters striking all three out to end the inning.
Argio had a few hiccups in the second as he let Jayden Morales single and allowed him to steal for second base. Eric Foster was up at bat for the Aviators and smacked in a double to send Morales home making the score 1-0.
Argio was kept on the mound for the third inning and problems only got worse for him as two more runs scored.
The offense got going in the bottom of the third as Robby Wakely doubled to start the at bat. After Wakely’s double Patrick Quinn doubled as well to send Wakely home cutting the lead 3-1 heading into the fourth.
Nex Gen Elite decided to relive Argio in the fourth and gave the ball to Matt Saborio who struck out the first three batters.
The offense continued to chip at the lead at the bottom of the fourth as Mike Barbara singled to send home Anthony Amato cutting the deficit 3-2.
Saborio couldn’t keep that spark in the fourth as the Aviators responded back and went on to score one run from Jason Ambos extending their lead 4-2.
Nex Gen Elite secured the lead at the bottom of the sixth as Nick O’Connor, Rob Manetta and Edward Lippet scored making the score 5-4.
Another pitching adjustment was made at the top of the seventh as Saborio was relieved by Lippert. Two runs scored as Chris Rouleau and Matt Rouleau took back the lead 6-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Shane Hewlette tripled to open the at bat for the team as Barbara followed with a single. With the game tying run at first and the game winning run at first Saborio smacked the ball right down the first base line sending home both runners to score securing the victory for the Nex Gen Elite.
Down 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th with bases loaded, Matt Saborio singled in two runs to score securing the victory for Nex Gen Elite over the East End Aviators 7-6. He is your Axcess Baseball Player of the Game. pic.twitter.com/42xJlPL3Fp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 24, 2019
“We need to clean up our defense, but other than that this was a good win heading into the World Championship tournament in North Carolina,” Head Coach of Nex Gen Elite, Matt Tringali said.
Nex Gen Elite improved their record to 7-5-1 today after securing the victory and look to have a successful outing in North Carolina in the World Championship tournament.
