by Trevor Dugan
B1 Ghost Stewart and Elite Tomaselli met this afternoon for a doubleheader at PAL stadium. Entering the day the Elite were 0-2 in Boys of Summer play, while B1 was 2-0.
GAME ONE
In the first game of the day, the Elite started Lincoln Blind on the mound, while B1 sent out Brendan Ohl.
Blind fired a 1-2-3 first inning, and his offense was quick to strike in the bottom of the frame. Outfielder Nick Morello led off the game for the Elite with a long triple to right center field. He was driven in with an RBI groundout, and the Elite led 1-0 after the first.
After a scoreless second inning, the B1 offense came alive to score four times in the third. Two runs scored on wild pitches, while another was knocked in by Jake Mileski. He finished with one RBI and one run scored.
During B1’s big inning, the Elite brought in Matt Laspina in relief of Blind. He recorded the final out of the inning, but halfway through the third B1 held a 4-1 lead.
Ohl fired a shutdown inning in the bottom of the third, looking sharp while doing so. He would pitch into the fifth, striking out six batters and allowing just three runs.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth that more runs would come in to score. With two runners on, Ohl was removed in favor of Fionn Ryan, a 2027 Garden City graduate. The Elite cut the lead to one when Morello came through with an RBI single that brought in both runners, making it 4-3.
Morello finished game one 2-3 with two RBI and a run scored.
B1 got those runs back right away in the top of the sixth, Sammy Sunshine doubled home a runner, and Ryan drove in a run with a base hit to help pad his lead heading into the final frame. By the end of the inning B1 led 8-3.
B1 was able to score eight runs despite the fact that no hitter in their lineup had more than one hit in the game, certainly a testament to their baserunning ability and awareness.
Ryan would finish the game on the mound for B1. He surrendered two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but in the end he got the job done and earned B1 Ghost Stewart an 8-5 victory.
GAME TWO
The second game of the day started just before 4:00 P.M. Elite Tomaselli needed a victory to avoid an 0-4 start, while B1 Ghost Stewart was hoping to start 4-0.
John-Luca Antico, a 2027 Garden City grad, took the mound to start for B1. He pitched an efficient, scoreless top of the first to begin the game.
His counterpart was Jake Mormino, a student of Farmingdale High School graduating in 2027. He would pitch the entire game for the Elite, and demonstrated exceptional command of his pitches throughout. His bottom of the first was not scoreless however, as one run scored for B1 on a passed ball to give Ghost a 1-0 lead after one.
Antico was untouchable for the first three innings of game two. After a shutdown second inning, he came back out for the top of the third and struck out the side convincingly. He definitely had his best stuff the first time through the lineup.
In the bottom of the third, B1 extended the lead to 2-0 after Sammy Sunshine drove in his second run of the day with an RBI single. That would be the last run allowed by Mormino, as he was lights out for the remainder of the game.
The Elite tied the game at two in the top of the fourth thanks to a pair of RBI singles by Matthew D’Aquino and Ryan Sullivan. They were threatening for more, but Antico worked his way out of trouble to keep the game tied 2-2.
Antico and Mormino both pitched scoreless fifth innings. In the top of the sixth, Antico forced two groundouts to start the inning, but then walked back to back hitters. Surprisingly, his coaches opted to remove him and brought in Sunshine to try for the final out of the inning. Antico finished with an impressive seven strikeouts and just two runs allowed.
After the pitching change, D’Aquino delivered the go ahead single to make it 3-2, and the Elite promptly scored five more runs. When the long top of the sixth mercifully came to an end, the Elite held a 7-2 lead.
Mormino returned to try and finish off his six inning complete game. B1 did load the bases, but Mormino got out of it unscathed, pumping his fist to celebrate his team’s first victory of the fall season.
Mormino finished with 6.0 IP, four strikeouts and two runs allowed, one earned. After the game he told Axcess about which pitch combos were working for him this afternoon.
“I was going with my fastball/sinker combo, and it worked out very well,” Marmino said postgame. “I mixed my curveball in with it and it worked like a charm in the last inning.”
Elite Head Coach Nick Tomaselli was happy with the way his offense turned things around in game two.
“We were jumping on more fastballs early on, staying away from the first pitch off-speeds,” Tomaselli said. “We weren’t getting behind in counts and we did all we could to get on base.”
Elite Tomaselli improves to 1-3 in the Boys of Summer fall season, while B1 Ghost Stewart sits at 3-1.
