Final: 13-2. Here is Titans pitcher Alex Shen on his pitching performance (4 innings, 7 Ks, no hitter through 3 2/3): pic.twitter.com/WugmqQIIsT
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 12, 2020
by James Ryder
The 12U Long Island Titans put on a show in their first game of the season at Allen Park Sunday morning. They defeated the Farmingdale Greendogs 15-2. Titans starting pitcher Alexander Shen pitched a beautiful 4 innings. He had a no-hitter through 3 2/3’s before giving up a single run. He went on to finish the inning though and recorded 7 strikeouts on the day. The Titans also clearly benefited from a great day by their offense.
The first inning was the beginning of this stellar play. The Titans broke the game open with 6 runs. Their leadoff hitter Brian Ramirez reached first on an error by the shortstop. He stole second just before Liam Dunkin drew a walk. Ramirez scored the Titans first run on John Parpis’ RBI double to deep center field, which advanced Dunkin to third base. Shen worked a walk to load the bases allowing Myles Spilk to put a ground ball in play. The second baseman mishandled the hit, allowing Dunkin to score. With the bases still loaded, Aidan Reilly hit a bloop single to CF to give LI a 3-0. The next run came on a bad throw to third by the pitcher to pick off the lead runner. The final two runs came when Trey Hassen hit a 2 RBI single into the right-center gap.
After allowing a walk in the bottom of the first, Shen forced a pop out that lead to a double play at first. He then got his first strikeout for the third out. The top of the second inning saw Ramirez and Dunkin leading off again. They both hit singles to left and right field, respectively. Ramirez stole third and went home on another errant throw past third base in the attempt to catch him, putting the Titans up 7-0.
Big first inning for the Titans. They went up 6-0 on plays like this 2 RBI single. They also had a quick 1-2-3 bottom half on defense with a swinging K for out #3. pic.twitter.com/0CclmQIrr4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 12, 2020
In the bottom half, Shen had a nearly identical appearance on the mound. Despite a leadoff walk, he got three straight outs via a pop out to 2B, a strikeout, and a ground ball to SS.
The third inning once again featured a run for the Titans and a quick three outs for Shen. James Rowan hit a double to RF in the top half and went home on another RBI single from Hassen to make it 8-0. Shen put the Greendogs away with a 1-2-3 bottom of the third, where he got two straight batters swinging to strikeout.
The LI bats finally went quiet for a moment in the top of the fourth, while the Farmingdale bats finally got going. Shen threw back to back strikeouts again to begin the frame, but Matt Belanger broke up his no-hitter with a single down the third base line. This ignited the Greendogs a bit, who hit two more straight singles. Jack Deleo’s infield hit advanced Belanger to second and Will Scott’s hit brought Belanger home to make it 8-1. Shen retired the side and his final batter faced with another strikeout, his 7th of the day.
The Titans exploded on offense for one last time in the top of the fifth. They piled on an additional 5 runs with several bases loaded hits despite having 2 outs against them. Dylan Piriyatamuo’s 2 RBI single expanded the lead to 10-1. Dunkin then hit a 2 RBI single himself to make it 12-1. Lastly, Parpis hit an opposite field double down the RF line that cleared the bases and brought the score to 15-1.
Shen was relieved for the final inning, where the Greendogs scored one last run on an RBI bloop single by Tiegan Duffy. The effort by the Farmingdale offense was too little too late as they struggled with Shen on the mound. The Titans play an excellent all-around game for the full five innings. Final Score: LI 15, Farmingdale 2.
