by Ethan Marshall
Dream Chasers head coach Danny Corona on his team’s championship-winning performance. pic.twitter.com/1BIUSSOTxm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 23, 2020
The Dream Chasers Baseball Academy defeated the Batting 1000 Seminoles, 6-1, in the championship game of the Bring the Heat Tournament at Mitchel Field. Dream Chasers starting pitcher Cameron Lynch allowed just one run and two hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 innings and Julian Martinez’s 3-run homer in the third inning broke the game open.
Dream Chasers coach Danny Corona credited the team’s performance both on the field and at the plate for their championship. “I’m a big believer that defense wins ballgames and our team stepped up to the plate this weekend and played some great defense,” Coach Corona said. He also said the difficult decision to replace Lynch at the mound with one more out to get was to keep him fresh and healthy for future games, as he had reached the team’s targeted pitch limit. “My number one priority is making sure that [Lynch’s] arm is healthy and we had a pitch count set for him and we had other guys who could finish the job.”
After Lynch threw a 1-2-3 top of the first, the Dream Chasers got their first rally started thanks to a one-out infield single by Liam Brower, who advanced to second on the play thanks to a wild throw to first. After Julian Martinez was retired, Justin Rotondi came up with the big two-out hit, scoring Brower. However, the Seminoles put together a rally of their own, thanks in large part to several quality at-bats against Lynch. Jake Burlock drew a leadoff walk before stealing second. After Matt Muzikant was retired for the first out, Ben Halpern worked the count full before getting hit by a pitch. Gianni Sorace followed with a single up the middle to load the bases. Jack Elko then also worked the count full before drawing a walk, bringing home Burlock and tying the game at 1-1. Lynch was able to limit the damage by striking out the next two batters.
In the bottom of the second, the Dream Chasers appeared to be in position for a big inning after a leadoff single by Matthew Tejada and walk to Jaiden Lopez. However, Seminoles starting pitcher Jaden Zoller picked off Tejada at second. But the Dream Chasers weren’t done threatening, as Shea Corona was hit by a pitch before he and Lopez advanced to second and third via a wild pitch. Zoller recorded a big strikeout for the second out of the inning, but Amir Inoa lined a two-out base hit to right field, scoring Lopez. It appeared as though Corona would score too on the play, but a tremendous throw home by Elko led to Corona being caught in a rundown, eventually getting tagged out at the plate to end the inning.
After Lynch worked around a two-out single by Reno Pagiatakis in the top of the third, the Dream Chasers again began threatening in the bottom of the inning thanks to a single by Izaeya Collado and double by Brower. Martinez then came up with the big hit, crushing a homer to left field and extending the Dream Chasers’ lead to 5-1. The Dream Chasers would tack on one more insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Brower, bringing home Collado, who walked earlier in the inning.
Final: Dream Chasers 6, Seminoles 1. The Dream Chasers have won the Bring the Heat Tournament. pic.twitter.com/6kzI1POE9j
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 23, 2020
After allowing a leadoff walk to Ian Yegides in the sixth, Lynch struck out the next batter before inducing a line out. Lopez then relieved Lynch and, after walking his first batter, induced a pop out to end the game.
