by Chris Prystupa
Here’s Gabe Klarikaitis on his huge relief outing today. He came into the game in the bottom of the 3rd with bases loaded and got out of the jam. He continued to finish the rest of the game, logging 6k’s and earning the win against LIB. pic.twitter.com/csyaq0eWPk
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 2, 2022
It was a beautiful Friday evening for a 4th of July tournament matchup between Next Level baseball and LIB Select. The scoring got started right away for Next Level who would take advantage of a throwing error that gave them an early lead.
In the bottom half of the second inning, LIB would tie and take the lead as they managed to get guys on base by putting the ball in play. James Kass and Michael Duda would be the ones to cash in on the RBI’s as they both brought in runs on their singles.
LIB would wind up knocking on the door in the bottom of the third as they started the inning with two walks. Starting pitcher for Next Level, Matthew Reiter, would get two outs before walking his third batter of the inning to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, Next Level would decide to bring in Gabe Klarikaitis in a make-or-break situation. Klarikaitis would rise to the occasion and struck out his first hitter to end the bases loaded threat.
Final in 6(Time Limit):
Next Level 5 LIB 3 pic.twitter.com/MkKbWqOMlQ— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 2, 2022
Klarikaitis would continue to dominate keeping his team in the game over the course of his relief appearance as he struck out the side in the fourth to set Next Level up for their big fifth inning. The momentum began to shift in Next Level’s favor as Aidan Shaughnessy cut the lead to 3-2 with a sacrifice fly. Giancarlo Rengifo would follow that up with a sharp line drive up the middle to tie the ballgame at three. To cap off the bottom half of the fifth, a passed ball would give the lead back to Next Level for the first time since the top of the first inning.
In the sixth inning Next Level would put the exclamation point in this game as John Murray tacked on an RBI single to help pad their lead to 5-3. Klarikaitis would finish this game the same way he entered it, with a strikeout. He would earn the win as he pitched three and a third innings striking out six batters paving the way to the victory.
