by Gabe Zoda
After the game we spoke to Dalton Rutt after his dominant performance on the mound (3.1IP, 6Ks, 0ER) pic.twitter.com/G443Piw0xp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 6, 2021
Imagine being 15 years old and being able to play baseball at a professional baseball stadium. That is exactly what the Body Armor Titans and Next Level Baseball were able to do while playing in the LI Boys of Summer 15u National Division.
They faced off in what was sure to be a good game and when you are in Ducks Stadium, you are guaranteed “Good Times Every Time”.
The Body Armor Titans would end up soaring above their competition by winning by the score of 5-1. They would start the scoring early as they scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the 1st.
This “quack” attack, or quick attack, started with Nick Zampieron. He gave the Titans the game’s first hit when he singled. He would then use his speed in a couple ways on the basepaths. First, he got himself into scoring position pretty quickly when he stole 2nd base. Then, came into score rather quickly on the next batter.
Tyler Cook would be the one to drive in Zampieron. He would do this by launching a ball over the center fielder’s head. That allowed Nick to easily score and it also gave the Titans a 1-0 lead over their Opponents.
In the 3rd inning though, Next Level Baseball would get their equalizer. They did this in a different style than the Titans did, they worked counts and did a really good job getting walks.
In this 3rd inning in fact, the first two Next Level Baseball players would walk to start off the inning. Those players were Mike D’Angelo and Matthew Reiter. It wasn’t all walks though as the next batter was able to get on base a different way.
Garrett Gates, who was also the starting pitcher, got up to plate in this 3rd inning and made the most of this AB. His intentions were clear as soon as he stepped up to the plate – he was going to bunt.
First pitch, he squared up but sent it foul. Second pitch was a little different as he laid down a very good bunt to the 3rd base side that allowed everyone to be safe and to load the bases.
Tommy Pasqua took advantage of this bases loaded situation and worked a quality walk that would bring in D’Angelo and tie up the ballgame at 1.
After the Titans would give up that run, they would go to their bullpen. They chose to give the ball to Dalton Rutt, who would be the perfect choice. He would get out of the bases loaded jam with a pop out and a strikeout.
That tie ballgame wouldn’t last for too long as the TItans would take the lead right back in the bottom of the 4th inning. They scored 2 in this inning and increased their lead to 3-1.
In common fashion, the Titans did this quickly and it would start with Peter Beisel. He would leadoff the inning by working himself a walk. A couple of batters later, P.J. Nenadick would drive him in with a line drive 2B down the 3rd base line but they weren’t done there.
Dan Rubin would ground a ball to the SS right after that should’ve been an out but the throw was offline. This error allowed P.J. Nenadick scored from 2nd since his head was on a swivel the entire time. As soon as he saw the play wasn’t going to be made, he was off to the races and was able to get in before Next Level could stop him.
Dalton Rutt completely shut down this Next Level team. In the 4th and 5th inning, he faced 7 batters and only allowed one base runner. Other than that, he retired every other batter he saw yesterday, which included 5 strikeouts.
Dalton Rutt has been on FIRE tonight. He’s faced 8 batter so far and has struck out 6 of them. Titans stay up 3-1 as we go into the bottom of the 5th. pic.twitter.com/y0FEbESJI7
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 6, 2021
If you include his .2 innings in the 3rd, Dalton had a complete line of (2.1 IP, 6ks, 0ER, 1BB). He featured his fastball, which was a reliable strike at all times. Then, he went to the curveball to secure strikeouts, which was an effective strategy seen by his 6ks.
The game would end during the bottom of the 5th due to the time limitations. The TItans would end the game with one last punch and scored 2 runs right before they had to end it.
Jack Fanning started things off with a single and then stole 2nd to land him on 2nd base. Nick Zampieron then followed him up with a single of his own and stole 2nd to make it a 2nd and 3rd situation with 1 out.
Peter Beisel would end the game with a grounder that should have actually ended the game but due to another error, that error turned into 2 more runs as Zampieron and Fanning would both come into score to make the final score 5-1 in favor of the Body Armor Titans.
With that win, the Body Armor Titans moved to 15-1-1 and continued their dominant play this summer. They look to continue their dominance against the Bonnie Bees 15U on August 7th.
