by George Caratzas
Our first @GetGameChanger Player of the Game is Brady Gelling of Bayport-Blue Point who struck out 10 over 5 shutout innings in an 11-0 victory pic.twitter.com/poJn4Cs5Zh
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 31, 2025
On the back of a great start from their ace and 11 total hits, the Bayport-Blue Point Phantoms claimed a win on opening day.
Welcoming the John Glenn Knights for the season-opener, Bayport-Blue Point head coach Victor Manzella sent Brady Gelling to the mound to start the year. Gelling set the momentum quickly, striking out a pair in a scoreless first inning.
In the bottom of the first, the Phantoms broke out, scoring a pair. After a hit batsman and a walk opened the inning, second baseman Cooper Fuller lined a single up the middle to bring home the game’s first run. Two batters later, center fielder Mike Messina singled home the second Bayport-Blue Point run of the inning.
“The bats came out aggressive,” Manzella said in a postgame interview with Axcess Baseball. “These guys were selective at the plate, they waited for their pitch and they hit it. However, the key for us today was definitely the pitching.”
Gelling went back to work in the top of the second, striking out the side before right fielder Sam DaVore brought in another run with a single in the home half. The Phantoms made it four total runs a few at bats later, as a bases loaded walk forced in a run to make it 4-0.
With a big lead to work with, Gelling shut it down with a 1-2-3 inning in the third and a pair of strikeouts in the fourth.
“I was just trying to attack with fastaballs,” Gelling said.
In the bottom of the third, Bayport-Blue Point blew it open, as an RBI single by first baseman Ryan Kloss and a two-run single by DaVore made it 7-0.
“I thought that we did a really good job hitting with runners in scoring position,” Manzella said. “We practice it all the time but we really do try to work on getting guys over and today they capitalized on that. We got guys on, and they did a nice job of hitting them in.”
Over the first 4 ⅓ innings, Gelling held the Knights to no hits. That changed in the top of the fifth. With one out, Gelling surrendered his first knock of the ballgame, a looper over the third baseman’s head.
“You’ve got to try not to think about [the no-hitter],” Gelling said. “I was just trying to get outs as quickly as I can and my pitch count started getting up there so I was really trying to get outs early in counts.”
Gelling responded to the blemish by striking out each of the next two hitters, one looking and one swinging.
Fuller blows the doors off, launching a 3-run homer in the 5th.
10-0 BBP heading to the 6th pic.twitter.com/gK26nHTCr5
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 31, 2025
In the bottom half of the fifth, Bayport-Blue Point put a pair of runners on for Fuller, who launched his first-career home run to left field, making it 10-0.
“Cooper is going to have a really big year for us offensively,” Manzella said. “He finally found the barrel today because that was his first career bomb. He got RBIs for us and got big hits when we needed it so I’m really proud of him for that.”
From there, Manzella opted to go to the bullpen, calling on Sean Deutscher in relief of Gelling. Despite allowing a leadoff hit, Deutscher retired the next three batters in the sixth, before working around an error in right field to polish off an 11-0 victory.
“[Deutscher] hasn’t played varsity baseball,” Manzella said. “That was his first outing of his high school career as a senior. He came in, threw strikes and got us through those last two innings. I’m proud of him too.”
In all, Gelling went five innings, racking up 10 strikeouts while allowing just one hit, three walks and no runs. Deutscher followed with two scoreless frames where he picked up four strikeouts while allowing a lone hit.
Fuller led the Phantoms’ offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and four RBIs. DaVore went 3-for-3 with three RBs. Shortstop Tyler McKillop did not have a hit in two official at bats, but was hit by two pitches and scored a run.
John Glenn will get its home opener next, welcoming Southampton on Thursday, while Bayport-Blue Point will hit the road to take on Center Moriches that same day.
