by Gabe Zoda
Spoke with Coach Brendan and Tommy Terzulli after their Run Rule victory over the Seminoles. pic.twitter.com/HJxS2y9Wkm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 6, 2023
The B1000 Seminoles and Merrick Mayhem matched up in 12u action on Saturday evening. Merrick used really good baserunning alongside good situational hitting all game long to pour on run after run, leading to their 14-4 run rule victory over the Seminoles.
The Mayhem would get their run scoring started in the bottom of the first. Brady Kalkau started off the game by reaching on an error. Mayhem would use his speed perfectly to get to 3rd base with two steals, putting him in perfect position for Ethan Mann with no outs. Mann then placed a ball perfectly to the right side of the infield, allowing Kalkau to score easily to give the Mayhem an early 1-0 advantage.
They continued their hot start into the bottom of the second inning as well, scoring 4 more runs. This time, it would be Spencer Bashian who got things going. Bashian reached on an error and then stole 2nd base to put himself in scoring position. Quillan Florio drive him in right afterwards by lining one down the 3rd base line for a single.
Bases would quickly become loaded after two consecutive walks by Lucas Finnegan and Hudson Sirota. Mayhem then scored their 3rd run of the game on a straight home steal. Yet another example of their great baserunning in this game. After the steal at home, there were runners on second and third for Tommy Terzulli. Terzulli would hit a hard line drive through the 5-6 hole that brought in both Finnegan and Sirote to give the Mayhem early control of this game with a 5-0 lead over the Seminoles.
B1000 Seminoles would then take their turn at the plate in the top of the 3rd inning with only one goal in mind, score some runs to get back into this game. Joe Moy lead off the inning with a single. Antionio Libranti then followed him by singling himself to put two winners on base. The lineup card then turned over to the 1 hitter Jacob Slavin. Slavin walked to load up the bases for Andrew Torre. Torre would take advantage of a mistake pitch down the middle and launched one to deep left field. This cleared the bases to make it a 5-3 ballgame to put the Seminoles within striking distance.
Mayhem wanted to get those runs back in the bottom half of the inning and they would, scoring 3 to make it an 8-3 ballgame. Brady Kalkau led the inning off with a single. He then. Once again, used his speed to get into 3rd base. Kalkau would read a pitch low and was agressive on a wild pitch that allowed him to score his teams 6th run of the game. Ethan Mann, who reached on an error would later go to third base in the inning with steals of his own. Ben Grabov walked to give the Mayhem a first and third situation, a prime spot to showcase some baserunning smarts, and they would capitalize. Grabov stole second, and as soon as Mann saw that the ball was going to second base, he took off for home and made it a 7-3 game.
B3: Mayhem continues to score, they got those 3 runs back and now lead 8-3.
The first one was off of this wild pitch. Mayhem have done a really nice job of baserunning all game. pic.twitter.com/lEuSUwgDU8
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 6, 2023
Spencer Bashian would then drive in Grabov with a single to finish the productive inning for the Mayhem.
Down 8-3, the Seminoles needed to try and get something going and they would rely on Sam Vargas to try and do so. In the top of the 4th, Vargas shot one to deep left center field for a standup triple. Max Okun then stepped up to the plate and grounded a ball to the right side, allowing Vargas to score to make it 8-4.
This is when Merrick Mayhem would really take the game over by scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 4th to win via run rule. Some key highlights of that inning came off the bat of Hayden stepper who hit a sharp ground ball through the infield to score 2 runs. Ben Grabov then drove in the game’s final run on a single to center to end the game.
Merrick Mayhem would take home the 14-4 victory through 4 innings.
