Final: Next Level 4, Team Francisco 3
WP: JJ Gatti @BCprospects pic.twitter.com/EJx8x4fS72— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2022
Familiar faces squared off in Saturday’s early morning match up between Next Level and Team Francisco Notorious 9 in the Blue Chip Prospect Father’s Day tournament. Despite a late rally by Team Francisco, it was Next Level who held on by the score of 4-3.
Next Level sent JJ Gatti to the hill. He is coming off winning the first ever NYS CHSAA Championship with Chaminade last week and had one of the best seasons of any Long Island pitcher (7-1 record, 0.89 ERA, 54.2 IP, 70 Ks). Gatti fired a 1-2-3 inning against the impressive top of the lineup for Team Francisco of Dominick Carbone, Antonio D’Amore and Jason DeCaro.
In the home half of the first, Next Level stepped up against Kellenberg’s ace and Wake Forest-commit Andrew Koshy. The sidearming fireballer is not a comfortable at bat for anyone, but Paul Napolitano got things started with a double to left center field and Sean Britt drew a walk. Mike Vilardi dropped down a perfect bunt between home and third that went for an infield hit to load the bases. Cleanup hitter Luke Donaghue hit a pop up to short left field that was caught by the SS but Napolitano scampered home for the first run of the game. Matt Graziose flew out to center for the second out. Cole LeClair drew a walk to load the bases but Chris Sais grounded out to DeCaro at 3B to end the inning but they were able to work an elevated pitch count for Koshy.
In the top of the second, Justin Wilkinson singled to left field to start the inning, but Phil Mazzola hit into a force out for the first out. Jack Ryan flew out to center for the second out and that brought up the dangerous Sebastian Velasquez. He doubled to right field but a perfect relay to the plate caught Mazzola just in time for the third out of the inning.
In the bottom of the second, Tim Hennig reached on an E4 to get on base for Mike Sweeney, who drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to put two runners on base but Hennig was caught stealing for the first out and Paul Napolitano grounded out for the second out. Sean Britt hit a seeing-eye single to left but Dominick Carbone‘s strong arm gunned down Sweeney at the plate, even with his 6.6 speed, for the third out. The score remained 1-0.
After Cole Cruz tripled to center on a misplay by Michael Sweeney, Michael Craig and Johnny Francisco struck out for outs No. 1 & 2 of the inning. Dom Carbone hit one hard but it was corralled at first base for the third out and kept the score the same.
Next Level added a run in the third on an RBI double to center field by Cole LeClair to score Luke Donaghue and make it 3-0, but LeClair was tagged out attempting to advance to third.
Danny Macchiarola came on in relief for the fourth inning and fired a scoreless inning – working around a 1-out walk to Jason DeCaro and a single by Phil Mazzola to keep TF off the board.
Sean Britt added an RBI single in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 3-0. He scored Mike Sweeney who walked with two outs.
After a quiet fifth inning for both sides, the tides turned in the sixth. Dom Carbone hit a one-out double for Team Francisco to get a rally going and he scored on an errant throw by the pitcher on a comebacker to make it a 3-1 game. Macchiarola ended the jam on a 6-6-3 DP to end the threat.
Next Level did answer back with a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth on a double steal of home by Mike Sweeney, who drew his third walk of the day. Sean Britt struck out to end the inning but Next Level was three outs away from the win.
In the 7th, TF rallied beginning with a leadoff walk by Justin Wilkinson. He moved to second on a single by Phil Mazzola. Jack Ryan squeaked one past the SS to load the bases with 0 out. The next batter hit into a 4-4-3 DP to score a run but now there was two outs. TF sent up pinch-hitter Mike Loughlin who singled to right field to score another run and make it 4-3. The next batter, Michael Craig, grounded out to short to end the game.
Final, Next Level 4, Team Francisco 3
