by John Sullivan
Postgame interview with Andrew and Eli Castka. Eli reached base three times, with one of those being an inside the park homerun, and Andrew went four innings on the mound pic.twitter.com/7MKg3VoPE9
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 5, 2024
The 11u matchup that took place at Cantiague Park was one between two very talented and well-rounded teams. The main strength for both teams is their offense, and that was on display early. The Titans scored immediately after Mason Schalor led off with a single and Josh Green drove him in with a double on the very next at bat. After a strikeout to the three batter, Nolan Homkaw hit an RBI double of his own to score Green. Oliver Martone then ripped a line drive into right field that scored Homkaw, but Martone was thrown out at first. The Titans took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the first.
Eli Castka wasted no time getting a run back for the Rebels in the bottom of the first, as he jumped all over a fastball and put it way over the left fielder’s head for an inside the park home run. Despite this, Titans starting pitcher Blake Peterson wasn’t fazed and he got the next three batters out to take a 3-1 lead to the second.
After a rough first inning, Andrew Castka took the mound in the second hoping to contain the Titans bats, and that’s exactly what he did. Castka tossed a quick 1,2,3 inning with a strikeout. The rebels fed off the momentum of this great inning from Castka in the bottom half of the inning. The Rebels scored 6 in the bottom of the second. They only had three hits in the inning, but working great at bats for walks and aggressive base running allowed for the 6 runs to score. The RBIs in the inning came from a Sean Hawkins walk, a Nick Sacco walk, a Ryan Seeman single, and a Liam Hanley single. The Rebels were up 7-3 after 2.
End of 2: Despite only three hits in the inning, Rebels put up 6 runs in the inning. Here’s an RBI single from Liam Hanley and great base running from Sean Harkins. Rebels are up 7-3 now pic.twitter.com/FYYyEPMXgy
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 5, 2024
The Titans offense showed they wouldn’t go away in the third. Despite two quick outs, they were still able to get a run across after Mason Schalor singled, stole second, and scored on a single the other way from Josh Green. Dean Nusraty then worked a walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but Rebels second baseman Nick Sacco made a phenomenal sliding play for the third out. In the bottom of the third, it looked like the Rebels would continue to hit after Angelo Ciancarelli hit a ball hard down the left field line for a triple to lead things off. Andrew Castka then hit a ball hard himself, but it was right at the shortstop and the Titans were able to double up Ciancarelli at third for the double play. Blake Peterson then got a strikeout to end the third and keep the score at 7-4.
In the top of the fourth, the Titans continued to chip away. After Oliver Martone grounded out to lead off, Sean Jager hit a single and stole second base, and Ryan Nardone hit a single to set up a first and third situation. Blake Peterson was the next batter and Andrew Castka got him to ground into what seemed like was gonna be an inning ending double play, but the shortstop threw the ball away and allowed Jager to score to make it 7-5. Castka struck out the next batter, in what was his last at bat of the day. Castka ended his day with four strong innings of work, in which he was in and out of trouble all day. In the bottom of the fourth, Nick Sacco did it all himself for the Rebels. He hit a one out single, and proceeded to steal second, third, and score on a wild pitch. The Rebels took an 8-5 lead into the fifth.
End of 4: Rebels add some insurance, thanks to Nick Sacco. Sacco hit a single, stole second and third, and scored on this wild pitch to make it 8-5 pic.twitter.com/TqL83Guw6m
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 5, 2024
The top of the fifth was Cameron Marschall’s first inning out of relief and he got off to a great start with a first pitch fly out. Marschall hit the next batter, but then got Mason Schalor to roll over to first for the second out. With two outs, Josh Green hit a high popup in the perfect spot, as it dropped for a bloop single and an RBI. With the tying run at the plate, Marschall got the next batter to ground out to short to maintain the 8-6 lead. The bottom of the fifth was quiet, as Josh Green tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
Despite being down to their final three outs, the Titans were poised to make a comeback in the top of the sixth, as they had three great hitters, Nolan Homkaw, Oliver Martone, and Sean Jaeger due up. Homkaw led off with a great at bat, but Marschall eventually got him to pop out to second for out number one. Oliver Martone then singled to bring up Sean Jaeger as the tying run. Jaeger worked a long at bat, but in a 2-2 count, Marschall broke up off a nasty breaking ball to catch Jaeger looking for strike three. Marschall got the next batter to groundout to short on the first pitch and the Rebels won it 8-6!
After the game, we caught up with Eli and Andrew Castka, who both explained that they had a simplified approach at the plate and on the mound. The Castka’s both had great games, but overall, it was a great team effort for the Rebels. Everyone did their job, and that’s what makes them such a great team.
