On a sun-soaked afternoon in Holtsville, Freedom Baseball‘s bats were on display in a 6-1 victory over the Junior Ducks in a 13u Boys of Summer match up.
They did the bulk of their damage in the middle innings, as they broke open a 1-1 tie with an RBI single by Kyle Coppola to right field and then Isaiah Gibbs followed that up with an RBI ground out to extend the lead to 3-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, they added plenty of cushion to their lead with an RBI single by Evan Loro – who was also the winning pitcher. Ryan Sanabria ripped a two-out, two-run single to open up a comfortable 6-1 lead.
Loro, the starting pitcher for Freedom Baseball showed plenty of toughness.
“He’s a big game pitcher,” said Coach Coppola. “We’ve talked to him about keeping his pitch count down, instead of going 2-2, or 3-2 to every guy – let’s go after him and get him because he’s got great stuff,” he added.
In the top of the first inning, it appeared he may not be long for this game as he loaded up the bases with nobody out after Dean Miller, Rauri Rago and Chris Thomas all reached to start the frame but he was able to bear down and strike out the side to end the inning unscathed.
Once again in the second inning, things started off precariously when Nick Harding led off the inning with a single and stole second and advanced to third on Matt Rigogliosi‘s single to left. With his back against the wall and runners on second and third, he struck out the next three batters once again.
That’s six strikeouts through two innings for Evan Lora who has stranded five runners
Mid 2: Freedom 1, Ducks 0 pic.twitter.com/Y6YH3WxybC
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 14, 2020
In the top of the third, he struck out Dean Miller – his seventh strikeout over 2.1 IP, before issuing a single and two stolen bases to Rauri Rago – who scored on a wild pitch to tie the game up. At this time, the game was very much in question and his pitch count was elevated on a hot afternoon so coach decided to take him out in favor of John Berkery, who was the beneficiary of a perfect relay home on a fly out to center that prevented the go-ahead run from scoring and giving Freedom Baseball an opportunity to let their bats go to work – which is exactly what they did.
“To get these kids back on the field is great and to get that first win is huge,” said Coach Coppola. “To see that look is great – it’s what we needed.”
The game was ended early due to the time limit. Freedom Baseball improved to 1-2 with the victory while the Ducks dropped to 0-3.
