Freedom Baseball defeat the Nassau County Saints 4-1. Here’s Ryan Shih who gave up one unearned run, struck out 9, and threw a complete game. pic.twitter.com/8dUjcqHF3w
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 14, 2019
Freedom Baseball defeated the Nassau County Saints 4-1 Wednesday night at Baseball Heaven in a 14u American League playoff match up. Behind a strong pitching performance by Ryan Shih, Freedom Baseball now advances to the semifinals.
Shih threw a complete game, struck out nine, and gave up one unearned run. He says the strong defense behind him allowed him to attack whoever stepped into the batter’s box.
“It gives me the confidence to go after the hitters,” Shih said.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings, but in the third Freedom Baseball got on the board.
With one out in the inning, James Mckeough drew a walk. Leadoff hitter Billy Plitt then knocked a base hit into center field which advanced Mckeough to third. Mckeough scored on a Ben Nosovitch ground ball to second. Plitt came around to score in the inning on a Matt Dieguez RBI single. Dieguez was caught stealing to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the third, the Saints responded with their lone run of the night. Nick Caprarella roped a ball to third which was mishandled, scoring Matthew Graziosi from second. With two on and no out, Shih forced Kevin Manzi to ground into a double play for the first two outs, but Andrew Lusterino advanced to third on the play. Lusterino was stranded there after Shih escaped the jam by forcing a ground ball out to second. After the third, the Saints failed to have another base runner reach third.
The bats went quiet for two innings until the top of the sixth when Freedom Baseball added some insurance. Ethan Ramnarian, starting pitcher for the Saints, came back out onto the hill in the inning in an attempt to keep his team within one, but he struggled to manage through Freedom Baseball’s heart of the order.
He walked three-hitter Dieguez and four-hitter Jesse Brown to start the inning then was pulled. Michael Capolino came in to try to halt the momentum. Capolino forced Shih to fly out, but the next batter Jayden Rosario hit a rocket to third that hit the third baseman’s glove and trickled into the outfield. The play scored Dieguez and Brown to put Freedom up 4-1.
Shih then carried Freedom Baseball to the finish line. Shih breezed through the bottom of the sixth and in the bottom of the seventh he struck out the side.
Freedom Baseball plays tomorrow in a semifinal matchup, their opponent has yet to be determined.
As Freedom Baseball advances to the later stages of the playoffs, Shih notes their simple mentality.
“Win,” Shih said. “Win as a team.”
