by Gabe Zoda
LI Titans put up two more runs of insurance in the bottom of the 5th. The first of the two scored on this RBI single by Shane Meechan. They now lead 7-3 going into the 6th. pic.twitter.com/J8IqTViOVR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 2, 2022
Usually Fall Sunday afternoons are synonymous with football, but this Sunday was full of great baseball. The LI Storm took on the LI Titans Quattrini squad in a Fall Ball Varsity Matchup in the TOB/Blue Chip Elite Invitational on Sunday afternoon. In this game base running was paramount as both teams took advantage of all of their opportunities to move players into scoring position or to score. At the end of the day, it would be the LI Titans to take this game by a score of 7-3, but it wasn’t an easy road by any means.
The LI Storm took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Will Lora reached base on a fielder’s choice, he then moved to 3rd on a pair of stolen bags which led to Stephen Coffey bringing him with a big RBI double to left center.
The Storm looked like they were firing on all cylinders during the first half of the game. They scored early, and they had a spectacular play in the bottom of the second when they performed a perfect rally from CF Carmelo Monaco to 1B Matteo Karcic to prevent a run from scoring.
They then responded to that defensive play by putting up 2 more runs in the top of the 3rd inning to extend their lead to 3-0. This is where the baserunning started to take over. It started with Carmelo Monaco, who reached by a HBP, he then stole both 2nd and 3rd and then scored after taking advantage of an E-6 by the LI Titans. After Monaco, Will Lora was right behind him. He got on due to that E-6 and stole a couple of bags himself. He would come in to score after a passed ball.
At this point, the LI Titans were down 3-0 but they kept telling each other in the dugout to “stay in the game”. They knew they could come back in this game and did exactly that. It all started in the bottom of the 3rd where they scored 2. Chase Lordi started the inning with a bloop single right over the 1B’s head. He then got over to third after an E-1. He then took advantage of another error to score. Jaiden Zoller reached on the first error, and made his way to third after the second consecutive error. It was then when CJ Alfano stepped up to the plate and placed a perfect ground ball to the 2nd baseman to score Jaiden Zoller and turn the score 3-2.
The Titans kept their foot on the gas and kept pouring on runs in the bottom of the 4th. They would add 3 runs and took a 5-3 lead. This inning started with a long 2B by Caden Erker that set the stage for the big inning ahead. In this inning, the Titans showed their patience at the plate by walking 5 times. They scored 2 runs on passed balls and another on a bases loaded walk by Jaiden Zoller.
They would hold this lead and in fact add to it in the bottom of the 5th. The Titans, who knew the LI Storm were up against the game clock, put the dagger in this game. They added 2 more runs in the bottom of the 5th to make it a 7-3 ballgame. The Titans started this inning like the bottom of the 4th with a 2B. This time by Brian Browner. He would then get thrown out which allowed Aiden Rosen to reach on a FC. Rosen would then steal 2nd to get himself in scoring Position. Shane Meehan would score him on an RBI single and then Caden Erker would score Meehan on an RBI single of his own.
At this point the game was called due to time restraints and the Titans were able to hold off the Storm, both metaphorically and seemingly in reality as well since the rain started to come down shortly after the final pitch.
