by Gabe Zoda
FINAL
Longhorns: 9
B1.000: 6 pic.twitter.com/wCcfmvs93L— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2024
The 12u New York Longhorns used Memorial Day, a day meant to remember the heroes of our past, to make memories that will last a lifetime after defeating B1 Ghost Russo 9-6. The Longhorns used a six-run outburst in the fourth inning to push themselves to victory.
The tone was set early when Joe “Moose” Agostino plated Gabe Hirschorn with a well-placed grounder. Hirschorn led off the game with a walk and worked himself over to 3rd on a couple of stolen bags. The Longhorns’ baserunning and timely hitting would turn out to be one of the main difference makers in this game.
The Longhorns proved this importance in the second inning where they tacked on another run. This time, it was Dylan Acquaviva who led off the inning with a single. The formula was similar after that, Aquaviva got himself into scoring position on a steal, he then moved to third on a Benny Sosa single and then stole the run on a passed ball.
At this point, it was 2-0 after two innings and B1 Russo wasn’t going to back down. This toughness was shown right away when Matthew Petrelli was hit by a pitch hard but got up and stayed in the game. Jack Sica sacrificed himself with a perfectly placed bunt to get both Petrelli and Gavin Gilgan (who got on because of an error to lead off the inning) into scoring position for the leadoff hitter, Logan Zinger.
Zinger roped one into left field, scoring Gilgan and placing Petrelli to 3rd and in the very next AB, the toughness from Petrelli would pay off when he read a ball getting by the Longhorn catcher and tied the game up with his legs.
The teams then traded runs in the 3rd inning, showing no will to give in. For the Longhorns, Tyler Striga wore one for his team to get the leadoff runner aboard. He would then steal second and get to third after Hirschorn had a productive groundout. Mike Clark then stepped in and placed another grounder at just the right spot to the 3rd baseman to allow Striga to score and give the Longhorns a 3-2 lead.
B1 Russo scored in a slightly different manner when they loaded the bases up after Frank Blumhagen and John Griffo walked and Nick Treacy hit a single. This set the stage for Riley Horbach, who was extremely patient and worked a walk to tie the game back up.
B4
HUGE inning for the Linghorns. Lance Auleta launches this RBI double to put then back on top. Then Benny Sosa plated Auleta and Will McDuffy hit Sosa home.
Gabe Hirschorn and Mike Clark also had RBIs
Longhorns: 9
B1.000: 3 pic.twitter.com/M6vhcanba3— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2024
Then it was the top of the fourth, where something switched with the Longhorns and they exploded for 6 runs. Leading off the scoring was Lance Auleta, who scored Connor Fierro (led off the inning with a single) with an RBI double that was shot to deep left field. Benny Sosa followed up with an RBI single to score Auleta and Willl McDuffy replicated that with an RBI single of his own to score Sosa.
Hirschorn and Clark also had RBI singles in the inning to cap off the six run barrage and set themselves up for the victory with a 9-3 advantage.
B1 Russo scratched across three more runs on an RBI double by Jordan Javeline and an RBI single by Treacy in the 5th along with a run in th 6th but it wasn’t enough to overcome the mountain. Dylan Acqaviva closed the game for the Longhorns on a strikeout to put the final shine on the championship trophy.
