by James Ryder
Final: 12-11 Rebels. LIDN almost tied it, but a close play at first ended the game. Here is Michael Iadevaia (3-3, RBI triple and 2 RBI double) on his teams performance: pic.twitter.com/d0Nq6uyhqu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 13, 2019
The 12u Long Island Dodger Nation faced off against the Rebels Sunday afternoon. The two teams battled all game long on field A at Wantagh Park. Both squads had a couple of huge innings at the plate, but it was the Rebels who pulled out a narrow 12-11 victory in the top of the sixth inning.
The first run of the game was recorded by the Rebels in the bottom of the first. Alex Frank led off with a bunt single. He eventually came into score on a bases loaded sacrifice fly from Nick Scully. This was all that they could muster up with the bases juiced, though, putting them up 1-0. However, they went on to expand their lead in the third. Brayden Giannico hit a 2 RBI double to left-center field and was followed by Michael Iadevaia’s RBI triple to make it 4-0.
Dodger Nation started off the fourth inning with a huge response. They took their only lead of the game by scoring 8 runs. It began with back to back leadoff singles from JoJo Galeotafiore and Tom Morton. Ethan Jeon walked to load the bases before a wild pitch brought home the first run. Dylan Purchick’s walk loaded the bases again to set up Timmy Peguero’s RBI infield single. A 2 RBI single to LF by Jaden Ramirez, a 2 RBI single by Dylan Serrano, and an RBI double from Morton gave them the 8-4 lead.
Unfortunately, this great effort from LIDN was matched by the Rebels in the bottom of the fourth. Jack Marovich drew a leadoff walk and came home on Alex Darzamo’s single to start their rally. Then, with the bases loaded once again, Scully captured another RBI with a single of and James Milliman did the same. Giannico’s walk tied the game 8-8. Their final 4 runs came on a 2 RBI double by Iadevaia, an infield single from Craig Weydig, and an RBI ground out by Marovich. This gave the Rebels a 12-8 lead.
Both teams went scoreless in the fifth inning, leading to LIDN’s last attempt to win it in the top of the sixth. A couple of single’s made it a one run game, but the game ended on a ground ball to SS. As close of a play as you’ll ever see was made at 1st base. If called safe, the game would’ve been tied.
Both teams showed an incredible effort on offense which made for a great game. Despite that effort, Dodger Nation came a 50/50 call away from potentially walking off in a game that had to end due to time limit. Final score: Rebels 12, LIDN 11.
