by John Sullivan
Final: Ryan Sivillo closes it out for empire and they win it 13-4 pic.twitter.com/p4WgE71fOF
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 13, 2023
In the 15u matchup between Knights Empire and LIB Vengeance, both teams came out swinging early. Knights Empire got things started early as they struck first in the top of the first. After Ryan Sivillo’s lead off walk and Riley Quinn’s single, Ryan Mabrouk hit an RBI single to take an early lead. Luckily for LIB, starting pitcher. Thomas Wagner was able to get a huge double play and a groundout to escape the inning with just one run given up. LIB’s offense was then able to one up Empire’s first inning, as they scored two. Richard Torres’ one out single started the inning, and Alex Zervas infield single and Thomas Wagner’s walk loaded the bases with just one out. With the bases loaded, Robert Figgers worked an RBI walk and Connor McCarthy hit a RBI infield single to take a 2-1 lead.
LIB had the momentum heading into the second inning, but that didn’t last very long. Justin Feldman jumped on the first pitch of the top of the second for a double. After Gavin Rogers’ perfectly executed sac bunt, Nick Heigel and Nick Tolamd worked walks to load the bases. Will Lentini followed these walks up with a sac fly to center to tie up the game. Two batters later, Vinny Abrusci hit what seemed like an inning ending ground ball to third, but an error turned it into two runs for the Empire, who led 4-2 heading into the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom half, Justin Feldman tossed a quick shutout inning with a strikeout to keep the score at 4-2.
In the third inning, the Knights stayed rolling. Their offense put up two runs in the top half of the inning thanks to two RBI walks from Justin Feldman and Gavin Rogers. The lone hit in the inning came from Ryan Mabrouk, who ripped a Lin drive into left field for a single. In the bottom of the third, Justin Feldman had another impressive inning on the mound for the Empire, firing a 1,2,3 inning with two strikeouts.
The game was all Empire in the first three innings, but LIB definitely made things interesting in the fourth. They were finally able to put up a scoreless inning on defense, as Troy Sylvia threw a 1,2,3 inning with two strikeouts looking. In the bottom of the fourth, LIB was able to put up a two out rally that cut Empire’s lead in half. Richard Torres hit a lead off single, but the next two batters struck out. But, LIB showed a ton of heart, as Robert Figgers worked a long at bat for a walk. The next batter, Connor McCarthy, shot an outside fastball into right field for an RBI single. Then, Aiden Mcneely worked a phenomenal 11 pitch at bat and eventually blooped in a single to score a run and make it 6-4. Unfortunately for LIB, Mcneely was caught stealing shortly after his single to end the inning.
Mid 5: Empire puts up a crooked number in the 5th scoring 7. Here’s a two RBI double from Ryan Mabrouk. Empire lead it 13-4 pic.twitter.com/V1iIpv5w8F
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 12, 2023
Although LIB had a very promising fourth, Empire took complete control of the game in the fifth. Ryan Sivillo and Riley Quinn started the inning with singles, and Ryan Mabrouk drove both of them in with a double in the left field gap. After this double, LIB just seemed to fall apart on defense. 6 walks and 3 errors later, Empire had a 13-4 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. This would be the last inning due to the time limit.
LIB did show some fight in the final inning, as they loaded the bases after two walks and a single from Connor Moody. But, Ryan Sivillo was ultimately able to shut things down for the Empire and secure his team a 13-4 victory. After the game, Justin Feldman and Ryan Mabrouk were named players of the game. The two both agreed that it felt “pretty damn good” to get a 13-4 victory.
