By James Ryder
The 10u Middle Country Mustangs faced off against the LI Thunder on their home field, Middle Country Park, Saturday morning. After going down 4-1 in the top of the third, the bottom half of the inning featured an offensive outburst that gained them the 6-4 lead. Ten outs later, the game was called after the top of the fifth due to time limit, and the Mustangs came out victorious, 6-5.
As alluded to, Middle Country trailed for most of the first half of the game. The LI Thunder went up 1-0 early in the top of the first inning. James Griffin, who drew a walk and stole second base, was brought home on and RBI single to center field from Theo Braithwaite. The Mustangs also scored in the first, tying the game at 1-1 when Derek Xikis stole home on a passed ball. In the second inning, however, the Thunder regained the lead thanks to a bases loaded hit by pitch. Then, they expanded their lead in the top of the third inning when Robby Metzger smacked a 2 RBI double to CF. LI now had their biggest lead, 4-1.
This is when the Mustangs kicked the offense into high gear. Middle Country batted around the order, scoring 5 runs on three hits and three walks. Lead off hitter Jagger Franco hit a lead off single and stole home on another passed ball. Brayden Franco’s bloop single scored another run and was followed by Charlie Salthard’s RBI single to tie the game at 4-4. With the bases loaded and two outs, JR Velez and Elliel Almonte drew back-to-back walks to give their team a 6-4 lead.
Final: Mustangs win 6-5. Here is Coach Billy talking about his teams need for focus in these games as they fight for the playoffs: pic.twitter.com/MUyZDkv65J
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 3, 2019
In their final two offensive frames, the Thunder got one run back and came very close to winning. The final run came in the top of the fourth on Nick Komarnicki’s RBI single to right field. In the top of the fifth, LI was able to put the tying and winning runs on base with no outs thanks to two straight singles from AJ Calapai and Metzger. Ironically, it was the aggressive base running of these two players that did the Thunder in. Each of them attempted to steal third base, resulting in both the first and third out of the inning, giving the Mustangs the win. Final Score: Middle Country 6, LI 5.
