by John Sullivan
Nico Milani is the Muddy Locker Player of the Game after hitting a double and a homer pic.twitter.com/0ML6La4Ltm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 29, 2023
Dodgers Nation vs Long Island Elite was a battle of two very talented baseball teams with high-powered offenses. Dodgers Nation displayed their high level of talent on offense immediately, as Chase Palma jumped all over a fastball for a triple over the centerfielder’s head in the first at bat of the game. The next batter, Micheal DiGiuseppe then hit a fly ball well into left field for a Sac Fly that scored Palma. After this though, Rohan Shah picked up two strikeouts in a row to end the inning with only 1 run scored and bring up Elite to hit. On offense, Elite fired back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Hartmann started the inning with a walk and he came around to score on Aaron Sibbiles’ RBI single into right field. After Sibbiles advanced all the way to third on throwing errors, he was brought home on a sac fly from Sal Visone to give Elite a 2-1 lead.
In the second inning, both offenses continued to produce. In the top of the second, Jayden Sleeper singled and Nick Skjeveland worked a walk to get runners on base. Thomas Morton would then come through with an opposite field base hit to score Sleeper and Nico Milani hit a Sac Fly into center field to score Skjeveland and regain the lead for Dodgers Nation. But, this lead didn’t last long. In the bottom of the second, Jordan Jorglewich and Nick Ritchie helped produce a run to tie the game at 3 for Elite. Jordan ripped an RBI single up the middle and stole second. Ritchie followed this up with a laser line drive into the left center field gap to score Jorglewich and tie the game at 3.
Mid 2: Dodgers Nation scores 2 on a RBI single from Thomas Morton and this RBI sac fly from Nico Milani. Dodgers Nation leads it 3-2 pic.twitter.com/pIYE7INdWW
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 28, 2023
In the third, Dodgers Nation proved that their bats would simply not go away. After Chase Palma hit a single and advanced to second on a balk, Michael DiGiuseppe ripped a double down the left field line to score Palma and Dodgers Nation once again led by a run. In the bottom half of the inning, Thomas Morton seemed to finally settle in on the mound for Dodgers Nation, as he posted his first scoreless inning with two fly outs and a groundout.
In the fourth, both offenses finally seemed to quiet down, as Nicholas Lang put up a scoreless inning with two strikeouts for Elite and Thomas Morton responded with a scoreless inning with one strikeout. Unfortunately for Elite, they wouldn’t be holding Dodgers Nation scoreless in the fifth all because of Nico Milani leading off the inning. Milani was thrown an inside fastball and he turned on it for a very long home run into left field. Despite Nicholas Lang shutting it down for the rest of the inning, Milani delivered Dodgers Nation the insurance run that they desperately needed. In the bottom of the fifth, Thomas Morton finished his strong outing for Dodgers Nation with another scoreless inning and two strikeouts. His final line was 5 IP, 3 R, 5 H, and 4 BBs.
Final: Nico Milani closes it out for Dodgers Nation and they win it 8-4 pic.twitter.com/1lxm3fNRbV
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 28, 2023
In the sixth, Dodgers Nation busted the game wide open with a three run inning. The three runs were scored on a sac fly from Thomas Morton, a long double from Nico Milani, and a single up the middle from Joseph Quigg. In the bottom half of the inning, Elite did show some fight, as Justin Reo singled and came around to score on Jordan Jordglewich’s RBI single. But, this wasn’t nearly enough, as Nico Milani ultimately closed the game for Dodgers Nation to win it 8-4. After the game, Milani mentioned that this win was particularly big for the team since they have been on a bit of a skid lately.
