by Gabe Zoda
Spoke with head coach Brian and Gavin Jurek after their victory over Team Francisco. pic.twitter.com/bRzm3KDM1m
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2023
Merrick Mayhem used a first inning grand slam by Gavin Jurek to overtake Team Francisco in the second game of a double header on Saturday morning. Mayhem fell to Team Francisco in the first game by 1 run in a game that was back-and-forth the entire time. In between games, the mentality was to shake off the loss in the first game and reset.
Reset they did and it all started right out of the gates when Mayhem put up 6 runs in the top of the first. The offense started with a single by Matthew O’Brien followed by back to back walks by Andrew Pucella and Griffin Kelson. This set an early stage for Gavin Jurek to make a difference in this ballgame and he did. He belted a shot to center field that went by the diving effort of the fielder. Once it got by the centerfielder, Jurek was off to the races touching all the bases and coming in on an inside-the-park HR to give Mayhem a quick 4-0 lead.
T1: Merrick Mayhem Gets things started early with an Inside-the-park Grand Slam off the bat of Gavin Jurek to put Merrick up 4-0 over Team Francisco. They put 2 more runs in the inning and finished with a 6-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/mToeV0FUL4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2023
They would then tack on two more runs with smart baserunning from the Mayhem. One of which came on perfect execution of a 1st and 3rd play that allowed Zachary Bodner to score. The other run came by taking advantage of an error on the field that brought in DJ Lombardo.
Usually, when an opposing team puts up six runs in the 1st inning, that could be demoralizing for a team but not for Team Francisco. They came right back and cut the lead in half and made it a 6-3 ballgame after the first inning. Luke Kaplun started things off with a 2-out walk, then he stole both second and third to put himself in prime scoring position. Mason Martinez would then step up to the plate and deliver his first RBI single of the day. He lined one through the right side to score Kaplun and put Team Francisco on the board. After Martinez, Joe Corradino walked and stole second to keep the 2-out rally alive allowing Frank Caputo get get up to the plate with 2 runners in scoring position. He took advantage of a hung pitch and sent one to right center to score Martinez and Corradino.
They weren’t done there. They continued to chip into that deficit in the bottom of the second. Joey Flynn led off the inning for Team Francisco with a walk and then stole second base. This opened the door for Raul Osorio who smashed a ball to right center to score Flynn to make it a 6-4 game after two innings of play.
Team Francisco would do it again in the bottom third inning where they would tie the game at 6. This inning was highlighted by none other than Mason Martinez. He would knock in the first run of the inning with a single through the 5-6 hole to plate Chris Mazzolla (who reached on a 1-out double). Martinez would then work his way to 3rd base through a stolen bag and a passed ball. He would then come in to score the tying run on a wild pitch. This brought a whole new energy as now it was an entirely new ballgame with both teams knotted after 3 innings.
During this stretch, Team Francisco was doing a very good job on the mound as well, preventing Mayhem from getting any more runs. Macallam Fairbairn pitched a scoreless 2nd and 3rd innings in a relief role.
In the fourth inning, things swayed back into the hands of Merrick Mayhem as they would retain the lead. Zachary Bodner led off with a walk, he then stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. Spencer Ednick then stepped up to the plate and grounded a ball perfectly to the right side allowing Brodner to score to give Mayhem a 7-6 lead.
In the 5th inning, Mayhem tacked on one insurance run on an RBI groundout by Gavin Jurek. Jurek then went on the mound in the bottom of the 5th and shut down Team Francisco to seal the game two victory by a final score of 8-6.
