LIB Prime 12u entered the bottom of the third trailing 3-0 and exited leading 14-3. Coach Jon Cruz on his team’s offensive performance pic.twitter.com/Y8VnR3IHVv
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 6, 2020
Teams don’t often score double-digit runs in a single game let alone a single inning. It’s even more rare to do so when you’re getting shutout entering the inning.
LIB Prime 12u is not like most teams. They have somewhat of a feast-or-famine offense that has been feasting of late. Coach Jon Cruz spoke about the team’s prolific offense calling it a “very talented bunch”.
The explosion came in the third inning when they entered the inning trailing 3-0 and exited with a 14-3 lead. The first 14 batters reached base safely. They came away with the 14-3 victory over B1000 Nastasi. They will play in the playoffs tomorrow in the Labor Day Bash.
They entered today with a record of 1-0-1 in the tournament following last night’s 0-0 tie against the Marksmen.
Dom Santivasci got the start for LIB Prime. He worked around a walk and a hit batsman in the first inning to fire up a zero. His counterpart, Evan Marks, worked around an E6 to match his zero as well.
In the top of the second, B1000 took a1-0 lead when Nolan Hosey walked, stole second and scored on an errant throw by the third baseman.
After LIB went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the second, the Seminoles went back to work in the third. Marks got things started with a single to shortstop and moved to second on a double by Gabriel Mujica. A walk loaded the bases for Josh Mass. LIB brought reliever Jack Degnan in a tough spot. He induced a double play from Mass, but the next batter, Matt Kind, ripped a two-run single to left to extend the lead to 3-0.
It appeared we would be in store for an intense game, but ultimately the bats of LIB Prime are just too ferocious. Their first 14 batters reached base in the bottom of the third. Nick Kramur got things going with a single. Santivasci came through with the first run-scoring hit. RBI hits by A.J Wayne, Ben Choen, Jack Degnan, Paul Brito, Ryan Tullo, Nick Kramur, Santivasci again, Cohen again and Degnan again made it 14-3. It was a remarkable run of offensive prowess but something that LIB Prime has been accustomed too. Twice last month they hit six home runs in one game.
In the fourth, needing to prevent B1000 from scoring two runs, Degnan threw a zero to finish the game in a run-rule.
They will look to keep the bats hot in the playoffs tomorrow at 11:15 against the Farmingdale Greendogs.
