By Andrew Connors
EastEnd Aviators winning pitcher John Schneider talks about his performance and what he plans on doing in order to keep elevating his level of play. pic.twitter.com/2wWYFvY2nm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 24, 2020
They say that stars come out and perform best under the bright lights, and that was certainly the case in Friday night’s 16U matchup between the East End Aviators and the Long Island Empire. Despite some early scoring, it was evident after the first couple of innings that there wasn’t going to be much offense produced from either lineup, so it was on the pitchers and defense to step their games up.
Danny DeBruin was on the mound to start the game for the Empire and he looked very sharp out of the gates. He racked up a pair of strikeouts and retired most of the hitters he faced via groundout. Left-hander Kyle Tubin took the mound in relief in the 4th inning and put on a solid display as he didn’t allow any earned runs in just under four innings of work.
As for the Aviators, John Schneider got the start and although he allowed an unearned run early in the first inning, he escaped the jam and never looked back. He relied on an overpowering curveball for the entirety of the game and mixed up his timing to keep the hitters off balance all night.
The Empire took the first lead of the night in the bottom of the first inning coming off of a leadoff walk to Shane McIntyre. McIntyre planned on being aggressive early, as he safely stole second base on the first pitch he saw as a runner. A couple of fielder’s choices brought McIntyre around to home plate to score the first run of the night.
And that will do it! John Schneider completes a complete game, 1-hit shutout to lead the EastEnd Aviators to a 3-1 victory over the LI Empire! pic.twitter.com/5vy9ePcAvi
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 24, 2020
Following two walks in the second inning issued by DeBruin, Eric Anderson stepped up to the plate for the Aviators and drove the ball to right field. This scored Anthony Carullo and all of a sudden it looked like we might see some offense. However, Brandon Soumakis was thrown out at third base and the momentum that the Aviators built up had stalled. DeBruin struck out the next batter to end the inning and stopped the bleeding.
With the game all tied up again, Schneider looked locked in as if he was starting a new game and went on to retire the next twelve Empire batters in a row. His combination of keeping the hitters guessing and off balance with his nasty curveball proved to be too much for the Empire offense as they could only muster up their first hit of the game in the bottom of the 7th inning.
The Aviators’ offense must have realized this, as they took the lead in the third inning when Ryan Culley hit a hard grounder back to the pitcher with Owen Price standing on third. This led to the Empire making a pitching change, as they brought in Kyle Tubin to relieve DeBruin. The Aviators added one more run to their lead in the fifth inning coming off of a pair of errors with runners on base by the Empire fielders.
From there on, both Tubin and Schneider mowed down their opposing lineups and didn’t allow any more runs for the rest of the game. Although there was a reliever warming up for the Aviators for a couple innings, their coach decided to ride the hot hand in Schneider. It paid off for them as he finished with a complete game, one-hit shutout, propelling the Aviators to a 3-1 victory over the Empire on a cold Friday night under the lights.
