by Gabe Zoda
In the second game of an All Star Baseball Academy double header, Five Star National 2026 showcased exceptional small ball play to secure a tie in a late game rally against the Bonnie Monarchs. The game was highly contested throughout, making it almost fitting to end in a tie.
It started with a different kind of rally in the first inning from Five Star National in the top of the 1st. Aiden Dobrie and Chase Braun started the game off getting on base off of an error and a hit by pitch then a double steal. Having 2 runners in scoring position with no outs in the top of the first? Could you ask for a better start?
That set the stage for Tyler Plugues who, with the infield in, rocketed a single past the diving 3rd baseman to score in the games first run. Chris Ragona would then send a one out shot to left field that would be caught, but well deep enough to allow for Chase Braun to tag home from 3rd.
The Scoring would then stall out as both starting pitchers took control of the game. For Five Star National, Micheal Buonagura had great control with his hard slider/cutter and curveball combination, forcing loads of weak contact to induce grounders to get out of jam after jam.
For the Bonnie Monarchs, Orion Ruck really settled down after that first inning. He would get 4 strikeouts for the rest of his performance and would only give up one more run. He used a lot of sweepers to get strikes off his fastballs. Was efficient with his pitches as well as he would come out of the game after 80 pitches in the 6th inning.
But in the 4th, the Bonnie Monarchs would tie this game up. The inning started pretty similarly to the top of the first when Fivestar got their first two players on base. This is though, the Monarchs used a walk from Reinel Gonell and a bunt single from Orion Ruck to kick things off into gear. A couple batters later, the speedy Adoni Frances would pinch run for Ruck and that would set everything into motion. A passed ball allowed Gonell and Frances to move to 2nd and 3rd with Jackson Avanzino at the plate with 2 outs.
Avanzino battled through a long AB, fouling pitches off until he blooped straight up the middle. At first it looked like the ball would land in the glove of the second baseman but he just missed it and the runners were off to the races. Gonell would score easily from 3rd but Frances had to use every bit of his speed to score from 2B to tie up the game at 2 apiece.
The Monarchs wouldn’t stop there as they would score 2 more runs in the bottom of the 5th after a shutdown top half of the inning from Ruck. Juan Fabian worked a walk to lead off the inning, putting another lightning speed player on base. He would Immediately showcase that speed when Henry Solmo Brewer roped a ball to right field. Fabian got a great read on the ball down and scored all the way from 1st to put them up by 1. Brewer would later get a nice read on a passed ball and score to give the Monarch a 2 run lead heading to the final frame of play.
If one thing is for sure, October baseball always comes down to the final inning and today was no different. All the tricks get pulled out this time of year and Fivestar National used every one in the book to tie this game back up. Nick Gargone would lead off the inning with a single to right field, but at this point, lead off base runners weren’t unusual.
What was unusual was the back to back bunt singles that Joe Sgogna and Brody Tellier perfectly laid down on the 3rd baseline to load up the bases with nobody out in the inning. Micheal Buonagura would then ground a ball slow enough to score the runner from 3B and then Tellier would come in on a passed ball.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Monarchs would go out quietly and the tie would be locked in. it truly is October baseball if something unusual happens like that. Both teams would then come together to get advice from The Baseball Academy because, as the saying goes, you learn something new every day.
