Final: Greendogs 5, LIB Nitsch 4
WP: Elijah Sierra
S: Colin HorowitzGreendogs advance to the 12U semifinals tomorrow @EcybTournaments pic.twitter.com/nhkmZpMbQu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 28, 2020
Coming on in relief against the bottom of the lineup, Colin Horowitz knew he could get the job done but he absolutely wanted to avoid lead off batter, Charlie Nella. Fortunately, he had a free base and put him on to load the bases with two outs and his Farmingdale Greendogs clinging to a 5-4 lead.
The young right-handed pitcher showed incredible poise by striking out Dom Santivasci to strand the bases loaded and send his team into the semifinals tomorrow at 3:45 against the CC Crushers.
The game had an entirely different feel for the first five innings. The innings breezed by with the Greendogs’ starter Elijah Sierra in full control but he ran into a great deal of trouble in the sixth inning. The youngster had a 5-0 lead but allowed hits to the first six batters of the inning – which cut the lead to 5-4 but also put the potential winning run in scoring position with no outs. That’s when Coach turned to the reliable Colin Horowitz to squeak this win out. That’s exactly what he did, as he was able to induce an infield pop out to short and a strikeout looking so that he was able to work around Nella to get the next batter.
The Greendogs initially opened up their lead in the top of the first when the talented James Sebber ripped a leadoff single to center. After an error and a HBP, Horowitz hit a sac fly to score Sebber to make it 1-0 in favor of the Greendogs.
WP Elijah Sierra was lights-out through five innings. He ran into trouble in the sixth but Colin Horowitz locked down the save to seal the 5-4 win @EcybTournaments pic.twitter.com/fTYSCoL3EK
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 28, 2020
Sierra was outstanding for the first five innings. In fact, he induced three come backers in the bottom of the first, three ground outs in the bottom of the second and another 1-2-3 in the third.
By that point, he was working with a 4-0 lead thanks to a solo shot in the second off the bat of Jonathan Hernandez and an RBI triple by Mateo Morales and RBI single by Horowitz.
It appeared that lead was safe as Sierra was cruising through three perfect innings. He allowed his first hit to lead off the fourth inning but he was thrown out attempting to stretch into a double and then struck out the next two batters. The shutout continued through five innings as he worked around a two-out single by Taylor Nitsch.
The rally really came out of nowhere, but credit to LIB for turning it on when their backs were against the wall. The dugout had a ton of energy and I even heard someone say ‘everyone gets a hit!’ at start of the inning – which the first six batters actually did.
With the victory, they will look to continue their terrific season. The winner of the semifinals will play in the finals on Sunday.
