Dodgers Nation has quickly become one of the top programs around and they solidified that capturing the 18U/17U Varsity Division of the LI Boys of Summer. They defeated LI Hawks, 7-4, in the finals at Baseball Heaven on Wednesday evening.
This was really a tale of two games, as the first four innings flew by with the Dodgers leading 2-0, while the next three innings were a bit of a slog once both teams got into the opposing team’ bullpen. Ultimately, Dodgers Nation took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The pitching match up was Nick Inzerillo were the Hawks and Brandon Lombardo for the Dodgers. Both pitchers were effective in the early going, although Inzerillo did need to work around two walks in the bottom of the first before escaping the jam on a fly out to center off the bat of Isaac Reyes.
In the bottom of the second, Michael Bloom got the Dodgers on the board with a well-struck solo HR to right field with two outs and nobody on.
The teams traded zeros in the third inning, but the Dodgers extended their lead in the home half of the fourth on an error committed by the third baseman to open up a 2-0 lead. The run was scored by Drew Stabinsky who drew a one-out walk.
Things got very interesting in the top of the fifth. Lombardo was cruising but hit a wall after he retired Mike Schippel to start the inning. He walked Justin Sonozo and allowed a single to Nick Inzerillo. That set the stage for No. 8 hitter Kyle Barry who turned the tides with a 3-R shot to left to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead. After a single, Lombardo was taken out in favor of Drew Stabinsky. He promptly walked a batter and allowed an RBI single to right field by Marcello Arrigo to make it 4-2. Stabinsky was able to stop the bleeding with a fly out to center field for the third out.
Dodgers Nation wasted no time in responding. After Michael Bloom drew a leadoff walk, Mike Schippel came on in relief of Inzerillo.
After a flyout to center, pinch hitter James Martin drew a critical walk to flip the lineup and bring up the dangerous Patrick Dalton – who drew a one-hitter in the semifinals to get them to this game. He walked, as did Luke Costanzo, to load the bases. Andrew Fazio came up and hit a tailor-made double play to short but the throw was wide and allowed two runs to score and suddenly it was a 5-4 game in favor of Dodgers Nation.
Stabinsky went back out in the sixth and did a great job in throwing a 1-2-3 inning to get his offense back to work.
They piled on two more runs with the runs coming on an RBI double by James Martin to score Brian McCloskey and an RBI single by Patrick Dalton to score Martin.
In the seventh, Stabinsky worked around a leadoff walk to Inzerillo to get a 5-3 double play on a rocket line drive and then ended the game on a ground out to second base.
It capped a great day for the Dodgers, who also captured the title at the 16u division.
