By Blake Buscemi
The Prospects absolutely blew the game open in the fourth and fifth, tacking on 6 runs leading to a mercy rule ending in the bottom of the fifth. Here’s an RBI double from Charlie Imhof from the bottom of the fourth.
Final: Prospects 10, Crush 2 pic.twitter.com/44TNykgXlI— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2022
There were a pair of Blue Chip Prospect Father’s Day games in the 17u division being played Saturday afternoon at Moriches Athletic Complex. The first one was a slugfest, so it was an action-packed game to watch.
James Sill took the hill for the Long Island Elite Prospects against the New York Crush. The Crush came out swinging early, starting with a Guerrero single followed by an Almonte RBI single two batters later. LaRussa then singled to right to drive in Almonte to give the Crush a 2-0 lead early on. The Prospects got one back off Crush starter Matthew Quinones in the bottom of the frame by the means of a Charlie Imhof home run to left field. He’s an uncommitted 2023 player out of Calhoun High School who we will mention again later on.
The score remained 2-1 in favor of the Crush until the bottom of the third inning, when Alex Fernandez singled to left, Nick Pusinelli got hit by a pitch, and leadoff hitter Nico Quiroz swatted a triple to the right-center field wall to score two runs and put the Prospects ahead 3-2. Quiroz later scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game.
A 2-run triple by Nico Quiroz and a wild pitch score three runs for the Prospects in the bottom of the third pic.twitter.com/vPiZBl8aHR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2022
The Prospect bats really came alive in the bottom of the fourth, when Sean Costello walked, Joey Cohen put down a successful sacrifice bunt, Fernandez reached on an infield single, Ryan Toohig walked, and Nico Quiroz walked to force in a run. Quinones’s day ended here, but the Prospect bats continued to hit the new pitcher Rosas. Nick Padula ripped a three-run double to left to make it an 8-2 game and Charlie Imhof, who already homered today, hit an RBI double off the left field fence to make it 9-2.
The game ended in a mercy rule win in favor of the Prospects after a Daniel Garibaldi sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth. James Sill was credited with the win in this one.
