by Trevor Dugan
Jefferson Biener with a great play in foul territory to secure the 16u @liboysofsummer championship for the Giac Squad despite a late rally from the Bonnies
FINAL: Giac Squad 6 – Bonnies 4 pic.twitter.com/SbVIC0JkAs
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 3, 2024
On a frigid Saturday night at Garden City Community Park, Giac Squad and the Bonnie Bees met to decide the Boys of Summer 16u Fall Division Championship.
The best of three championship series began last Sunday, when the teams split a doubleheader to force a decisive game three.
With the season on the line, the Giac Squad started the winning pitcher from game one, Jefferson Biener (Division 2026). The Bonnies went with the hard throwing right hander Jackson Medina (Park Slope Collegiate).
Both starting pitchers recorded scoreless first innings, dialing up their respective fastballs early and often. Biener would pitch another scoreless frame in the top of the second, recording his third strikeout to end his second straight scoreless inning.
The bottom of the second would prove to be the deciding inning of the game. Six runs scored in the inning for the Giac Squad, accounting for all of their scoring for the night.
After two walks to start the inning, infielder Drew Waters executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners up to second and third. Next, a ground ball was fielded and thrown to home plate but dropped, resulting in the first run of the game for the Giac Squad.
A throwing error and three bases loaded walks would see five more runs come across for the Giac Squad before the second inning finally came to an end, resulting in a 6-0 Giac Squad lead.
The Bonnies would get one back in the top of third, scoring on an error for their first run of the game. This was SP Biener’s last inning pitched, he finished with five strikeouts and one run allowed (0 ER) in three innings pitched.
Ethan Azoff (James Madison 2026) entered in relief for the Bonnies following the big second inning and shut down the Giac Squad bats, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing no runs.
Jack Lyke (Holy Trinity) relieved Biener in the fourth inning and pitched the remainder of the game for the Giac Squad. Both relievers were throwing strikes and getting through innings quickly. It wasn’t until the seventh inning that either offense would plate another run.
The Bonnies came to bat in the top of the seventh trailing 6-1 and needing a big rally to keep their championship hopes alive.
A leadoff single was mishandled by the Giac Squad outfield, leading to a runner on third to start the inning. Catcher Blake Coy drove in the runner with a groundout to cut the Giac Squad lead to 6-2.
Two more runs came in on a pair of infield singles to make it just 6-4. The tying run came to the plate for the Bonnies with two outs, and Lyke was still on the mound for the Giac Squad.
Lyke got the batter to pop up in foul territory, and Biener (now playing first base) made a fantastic running catch for the final out, securing a hard fought 6-4 Giac Squad victory for the 16u Fall Division Championship.
Giac Squad Head Coach Joe Giacomantonio highlighted the importance of his pitching staff and patience at the plate to the team’s success this year.
Giac Squad head coach Joe Giacomantonio spoke to Axcess following his team’s championship victory pic.twitter.com/cSeEqI5Dqh
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 3, 2024
“We really rode the coattails of three pitchers all year, Jefferson Biener, Fernando Alvarez and Jack Lyke.” Giacomantonio told Axcess. “And plate discipline again, we had 13 walks and I think only two hits, but we preach plate discipline and it showed again tonight.”
“You guys asked the question at our first doubleheader in the Summer ‘Where do you see yourselves at the end of the season?’ and I said in the championship,” Giacomantonio said postgame. “We fell short in the final in the summer, but we’re here again so expectations were high and they remain high.”
