Ryan Appell singles and NexGen Elite ties it up 2-2 in the third pic.twitter.com/wi5NO5fd1a
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 17, 2020
The early morning time slots in tournaments – especially when the temperature in the 40s – means pitching and sluggish offense. That was not the case today as the Northeast Elite 18u kicked off between Beast 2022 and NexGen Elite. The teams battled back-and-forth but ultimately it ended in a 6-6 tie as the game reached the time limit.
The pitching match up was Christian Antonopoulos (Manhasset 2022) for Beast against Michael DeFilippo (Connetquot 2021) of NexGen Elite.
Both teams went scoreless in the first inning. The scoring got going in the bottom of the second against DeFilippo with two outs and nobody on. Army-commit Nolan Nawrocki (Chaminade 2022) singled to center field and showed his wheels by stealing second base. An early by the first baseman allowed Nawrocki to score the first run of the day. Lucas Rodriguez singled to left field and the ball scooted past the left fielder to allowed Gino Manicchio to score and open up a 2-0 lead in favor of Beast.
The lead did not last long, however, as NexGen Elite got the bats going in the top of the third. A leadoff walk to Chris Martino, resulted in him stealing second and advancing to third on a single by Mike DiSantis. A ground out to shortstop allowed Martino to score to make it 2-1. Ryan Appel (Connetquot 2021) hit a grounder up the middle and he barely beat the throw to first to result in an RBI single which tied up the game 2-2. The ensuing batter, Ryan Wood (St. Anthony’s 2021) smoked an RBI triple to left center field to give NexGen Elite a 3-2 lead.
DeFilippo fired a scoreless third inning to keep the lead in tact temporarily. Beast made a pitching change, calling on southpaw Anthony Fulminante (Midwood 2022). After a leadoff walk issued to Angelo Agro (Deer Park 2021), he moved to second on a single to center by Thomas Keeling (Connetquot 2021). A strikeout brought up Chris Martino (Walt Whitman 2021), who singled to load the bases. Michael DeSantis came up next. He struck out looking for the second out but the next two batters walked to bring in runs and make it 5-2.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Beast fought back. A leadoff walk to Jack Rupe (Center Moriches) and a double by Austin Saji (Lab) put runners in scoring position. T.J. Hughes (Lynbrook) hit a fielder’s choice but the throw wasn’t handled by the catcher and everyone was safe to make it 5-3. The next batter, Brian Zweigbaum (Holy Trinity) grounded out to bring another run in and make it a one-run ballgame. An error on a pickoff attempt brought home Hughes and tied the game up. Nawrocki singled to shortstop and that brought up Lucas Rodriguez (Ossining) who doubled to bring in the go-ahead run at 6-5.
DeFilippo’s day was done and now it was Kyle Cavataio‘s (Hills East 2021) job. He answered the bell with a strikeout to end the inning with the score 6-5.
In the top of the fifth, Ryan Wood got things going with a leadoff walk. He went on to steal second, third and score when the throw got past the third baseman. The next two batters were retired. A two-out by pitch of Keeling gave NexGen a base runner, but the next batter, Grant Biederman (Walt Whitman 2021) was retired.
In the home half of the fifth with the time limit approaching, Beast had one more shot to win the game. A leadoff single by Mateo Sucre (Calhoun) gave them a chance. A flyout by Connor Waiting was followed by a walk of Jack Rupe. A strikeout was the second out of the inning, which brought up T.J. Hughes. He chopped one to second, that was handled and converted into the third out of the inning.
The game ended in a tie of 6-6.
