Coach Kyle Johnson on the victory for the Titans @EcybTournaments pic.twitter.com/G5dB0ni1bp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 10, 2020
To beat the 10u Titans-Anderson, you need to pay close to a perfect game. That means playing clean defensively, not allowing any walks and keeping their speedy runners at bay. That was not the case today, as they cruised to a 19-2 run-rule victory in the Columbus Day Tournament over Sharks Baseball Academy.
Coach Kyle said, “From top to bottom, the whole lineup hit,” said the skipper and Stony Brook junior. “From Irrizary all the way down to Wonderland, they did their jobs and gave good at bats all game. I think they did a good job of putting the ball in place consistently and not letting up even though the score got out of hand a little bit, I think we kept on the pressure and stuck to our game,” he added.
The game was competitive for the first inning. After the Titans scored two in the top of the first inning, the Sharks responded in the home half of the first.
Matt Dunphy led off with a single to left field and he came around to score on a long 2-R home run by Jackson O’Connor. It was an impressive shot for the 10-year-old and it briefly appeared that this would be a back-and-forth high-scoring game. The Titans made sure that this game was in-hand beginning in the top of the second.
Joey Lionetti got the Titans back in the lead when he led off with a solo shot to left center field. Starting pitcher Marcus Chan walked and after two wild pitches he scored to make it 4-2. A single by Dylan Sanders, a hit by pitch of Lucas Guagliari and a wild pitch made it 5-2. Luca Eliane singled to make it 6-2 and Joey Irrizary broke it open with a two-run shot to make it 8-2. They added insurance runs on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Brady Azarieh and consecutive errors to make it 11-2.
Chan made sure the lead was safe with a 1-2-3 bottom of the second inning and allowed his offense to get back to work.
In the top of the third, they added a five-spot with the big knocks coming on a triple by Lucas Guagliari and two-run triple by Sean Cima. It was more of the same in the fourth inning when they added three more runs which put the run-rule into effect, as long as they held the Sharks offense down in the fourth inning – which Chan did to finish off the victory.
In regards to Chan, Coach said that he “kept us in the game the whole time, throwing strikes, that’s his thing all year – if he throws strikes, we’re good to go.”
They will face the Massapequa Cyclones tomorrow morning at 10:45am. After watching their performance today, combined with their 14-1 victory earlier in the day, it’s hard to envision anyone beating this squad.
