Vin Juliano pitched five innings and recorded the win pic.twitter.com/19WUYH3yiy
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 10, 2020
Baseball is a team game but sometimes all it takes is one or two players to carry the team on their backs. On this afternoon, it was the bat of TJ Meizoso and the arm of Vin Juliano that was the driving force behind a 9-5 victory for the CN Rebels over the Massapequa Cyclones in a 10u Columbus Day Tournament game.
Juliano pitched five innings, also drove in a run at the plate, and Meizoso drove in five runs at the plate – including a three-run shot in the first inning to open up a 5-0 lead in which they would not relinquish.
Juliano worked around a leadoff single in the top of the first inning by Danny Fregara to throw a scoreless inning.
His offense went to work in the home half of the inning. His brother, Jake, got the rally going with a lead off walk and he stole second. A bloop single by Nico Burriesci put runners on the corners. Juliano drove in the first run on a fielder’s choice to make it 1-0. The following batter, Luke Walker, did the same to make it 2-0. After a strikeout and a walk, it brought up TJ who did some damage with the three-run blast and open up a 5-0 lead.
That’s 5 RBI for TJ Meizoso as the Rebels lead 9-2 after two pic.twitter.com/Vbb7V2r4XQ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 10, 2020
At the 10u level, that lead can evaporate in a moment. The Cyclones chipped away with two runs right away. A leadoff hit by pitch followed by a bloop double by Grayson Graham made it 5-1 and Brendan Hanley followed with an RBI single to right field to make it 5-2. Juliano was able to stop the bleeding when he induced a 6-4 double play and a ground out off the bat of James Longhitano.
The Rebels got those runs right back – and then some – in the home half of the second. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Nico Burriesci was followed by an RBI single by Luke Walker made it 7-2 and then TJ struck again with a two-run single to make it 9-2.
To their credit, the Cyclones would not go down quietly. They put two runs on the board in the third on a wild pitch that scored Liam St. George and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Danny Fregara to make it 9-4.
The teams traded zeros in the fourth and fifth innings. Juliano’s day was over, he gave way to Luke Walker in the sixth inning. The Cyclones got one on the board on an RBI ground out off the bat of Christian Bekiers. The final score was 9-5.
Massapequa will face the Titans tomorrow morning at 10:45am while the Rebels will face Sharks Baseball Academy.
