by Trevor Dugan
Carello tosses a shutdown inning for the Titans
Titans 9 – Beast 2
Mid sixth pic.twitter.com/10vnaV1E5Q Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 27, 2025
The 2026/2027 Body Armors Titans looked dominant in their first game of the Northeast Elite Tournament at Moriches Athletic Complex, earning a 10-2 run rule victory over Beast National 2026.
A pair of quality arms were on the mound for this matchup, as Beast National sent out Curry College commit Steven Falco for the start, while the Titans went with Stellan Zangari of South Side High School.
Both pitchers endured shaky first innings, with Beast National pushing across their only two runs of the game in the top of the first. An errant throw to second by the Titans catcher led to the first run of the game, then an RBI single by Luca Eliane of Syosset High School gave Beast National an early 2-0 lead.
The Titans were able to answer right away however in the bottom of the first. Andrew Noe led the inning off with a single, and infielder Jake Madsen followed that up with a single of his own to put two men on base with one out. Caiden Erker strode to the plate with a chance to tie the game, and the Union College commit delivered a two run RBI single to even the score at 2-2. Falco avoided further damage in the first, but the Titans had drawn even.
Stellan Zangari shook off his tumultuous first and came through with a shutdown inning in the top of the second. The Titans right hander struck out the side in impressive fashion, generating plenty of whiffs and showing good command of his pitches.
Falco also seemed to settle in when he took the mound again for Beast National in the bottom of the second. After walking the first batter of the inning, he retired the next three batters in order to bring the Beast National offense back to the plate.
Zangari started the third inning the same way he ended the second, striking out the first two batters of the inning for his fourth and fifth consecutive strikeouts. He found himself in a two out jam after that, however, as an E6 and two walks loaded the bases for Luca Eliane. Already with an RBI to his name, Eliane had a chance to put his team ahead with two outs, but Zangari bore down and forced him to ground out, ending the inning and snuffing out the Beast National scoring threat.
Continuing the trend of scoreless frames, Falco delivered another in the bottom of the third, working around a HBP with a strikeout and two groundouts to keep the game tied. The Curry commit allowed very little solid contact in this game, despite his final line suggesting otherwise.
The top of the fourth was over as quickly as it started, as Zangari struck out the first batter, walked the second, then forced a groundball to shortstop, allowing the Titans to turn a silky smooth 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Zangari had his best strikeout stuff Saturday morning, and despite some control issues he would finish the game with eight strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
The bottom of the fourth is when the bats came alive for the Titans. Bucknell-commit Mason Miles led the inning off with an infield single, before the second batter of the inning walked to put two runners on with no outs. Falco struck out the third batter of the inning, but the next man up hit a chopper back to the mound, and Falco’s throw sailed past the first baseman and allowed the Titans to take a 3-2 lead. Nolan Hutson of Rye High School would follow that up with an RBI single, pushing the Titan lead to 4-2.
The Titans would push across three more runs in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly, a double steal from first and third, and another RBI single by Caiden Erker. By the end of the fourth inning the Titans held a 7-2 lead.
The Titans starter Zangari would come back out for the top of the fifth and record the first two outs, but was pulled after loading the bases. He was replaced by Anthony Carello of Massapequa High School, who got the last batter to fly out to left field and preserve the Titans five run lead.
Determined to add to their lead, the Titans kept their foot on the gas and loaded the bases to begin the bottom of the fifth. A chopper to first was fielded by the Beast National first baseman who attempted to get the force out at home plate, but his throw was dropped by the catcher allowing the Titans to score their eighth run. Another run came in on a fielder’s choice groundout to short off the bat of Nolan Hutson, giving him his second RBI of the game and stretching the Titans lead to 9-2.
At this point, Beast National opted to bring in Ryan Flynn of Commack High School in relief of SP Steven Falco. Flynn was able to get the final out without allowing another run, but the Titans were just one run away from a mercy rule victory heading into the sixth.
Beast National needed some runs in the top of the sixth if they wanted to have a chance, but unfortunately for them they were not able to muster any offense. The first two batters were sent back to the dugout in order after a ground out to first base and a strikeout. Carello seemed to be cruising through the frame, until a walk and a HBP put two runners on for Beast National with two outs. Shaking off the misstep, Carello got the next out to strand both runners and end the inning, sending the Titans back to the plate with a chance to earn a run rule victory.
And that’s exactly what they did. The Titans scored their tenth run in the bottom of the sixth on an E6, ending the game and earning a 10-2 victory in their first game of the Northeast Elite Tournament.
The Titans were able to score 10 runs on their way to a victory despite the fact that they had no extra base hits in the game. Manufacturing runs through good base running decisions and situational singles, the Body Armor Titans proved once again why they are one of Long Islands premier travel baseball teams.