{"id":51130,"date":"2024-08-18T08:12:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-18T12:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/?p=51130"},"modified":"2024-08-18T08:13:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-18T12:13:17","slug":"game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>by Trevor Dugan<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Saints comeback attempt falls just short as the Top Tier Aviators earn the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liboysofsummer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@liboysofsummer<\/a> Varsity Division championship<\/p>\n<p>FINAL: Aviators 3 – Saints 2 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FvSAZfPRAU\">pic.twitter.com\/FvSAZfPRAU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/axcessbaseball\/status\/1824856767546728932?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 17, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Top Tier Aviators<\/strong> and <strong>Long Island Saints<\/strong> met Saturday morning at East Islip High School in the Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship. Both teams won their semi-final matchups, also played Saturday morning, 11-0.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andrew Buckshaw got the start for the Saints and promptly struck out the first batter of the game. The Aviators then hit back-to-back singles, and were able to score their first run of the day on an RBI groundout by Nick Moraitis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buckshaw then recorded another swinging strikeout to end the first inning. He would finish with six strikeouts in just four innings of work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-50625 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-300x157.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/157;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-50625 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-300x157.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/LISR-Banner.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Top Tier held a 1-0 lead after a hectic top of the first. Dan McConnell took the mound for the Aviators and fired a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the bottom of the frame, a sign of things to come as he would remain in the game until the final out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Saints didn\u2019t need to wait long for another chance to hit. Buckshaw answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the second, and by this point both pitchers were settling in nicely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the top of the third, the Aviators pushed across two more runs to bring their lead to 3-0. Back-to-back throwing errors by the Saints infield allowed one run to score, while the second came on an RBI double by catcher Christian Meadows.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another shutdown inning by McConnell kept the score at 3-0 following that outburst by the Aviators. Through three innings, McConnell had six strikeouts, and would end up with 12 on the day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a true pitchers duel from that point onward, as pitchers on both sides continued to rack up the strikeouts. Paul McNally entered to pitch for the Saints in the fifth inning, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out four in just two innings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-50361 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-1024x595.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-768x446.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296.jpg 1127w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/174;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-50361 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-1024x595.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296-768x446.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2296.jpg 1127w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It wasn\u2019t until the bottom of the seventh that another run would cross the plate. With the season on the line, McConnell came out for the seventh inning to try and finish off his complete game shutout. But the Saints were not going to go down without a fight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a pop-out to start the inning, the Saints got back-to-back singles by Matt Orgera and McNally. A balk moved both runners up a base, then first baseman Kevin Brown drove in Orgera to make it 3-1. McConnell struck out the next batter, but then allowed another single to Buckshaw which cut the Aviator lead to just 3-2.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfazed by all this, Top Tier Head Coach Steve Bruno chose to stick with his pitcher despite the tough inning. McConnell struck out the final batter to earn the Aviators a hard fought championship victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bruno was ecstatic after the game, and commended his players for their years of hard work after what may have been their final season together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think it’s a culmination of a lot of things that started back in 12u with a lot of these players,\u201d Bruno told Axcess Baseball. \u201cOne of the things we say here in this organization is \u2018trust the process\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got to trust your players,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey came through for us today and we\u2019re very proud of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Aviators finish the season with a record of 15-5-1, while the Saints finish 18-7-1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Trevor Dugan The Saints comeback attempt falls just short as the Top Tier Aviators earn the @liboysofsummer Varsity Division championship FINAL: Aviators 3 – Saints 2 pic.twitter.com\/FvSAZfPRAU \u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 17, 2024 The Top Tier Aviators and Long Island Saints met Saturday morning at East Islip High School in the Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship. Both teams won their semi-final matchups, also played Saturday morning, 11-0.\u00a0 Andrew Buckshaw got the start for the Saints and promptly struck out the first batter of the game. The Aviators then hit back-to-back singles, and were able to score their first run of the day on an RBI groundout by Nick Moraitis. Buckshaw then recorded another swinging strikeout to end the first inning. He would finish with six strikeouts in just four innings of work.\u00a0 Top Tier held a 1-0 lead after a hectic top of the first. Dan McConnell took the mound for the Aviators and fired a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the bottom of the frame, a sign of things to come as he would remain in the game until the final out.\u00a0 The Saints didn\u2019t need to wait long for another chance to hit. Buckshaw answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the second, and by this point both pitchers were settling in nicely.\u00a0 In the top of the third, the Aviators pushed across two more runs to bring their lead to 3-0. Back-to-back throwing errors by the Saints infield allowed one run to score, while the second came on an RBI double by catcher Christian Meadows.\u00a0\u00a0 Another shutdown inning by McConnell kept the score at 3-0 following that outburst by the Aviators. Through three innings, McConnell had six strikeouts, and would end up with 12 on the day.\u00a0 It was a true pitchers duel from that point onward, as pitchers on both sides continued to rack up the strikeouts. Paul McNally entered to pitch for the Saints in the fifth inning, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out four in just two innings. It wasn\u2019t until the bottom of the seventh that another run would cross the plate. With the season on the line, McConnell came out for the seventh inning to try and finish off his complete game shutout. But the Saints were not going to go down without a fight.\u00a0 After a pop-out to start the inning, the Saints got back-to-back singles by Matt Orgera and McNally. A balk moved both runners up a base, then first baseman Kevin Brown drove in Orgera to make it 3-1. McConnell struck out the next batter, but then allowed another single to Buckshaw which cut the Aviator lead to just 3-2. Unfazed by all this, Top Tier Head Coach Steve Bruno chose to stick with his pitcher despite the tough inning. McConnell struck out the final batter to earn the Aviators a hard fought championship victory.\u00a0 Bruno was ecstatic after the game, and commended his players for their years of hard work after what may have been their final season together.\u00a0 \u201cI think it’s a culmination of a lot of things that started back in 12u with a lot of these players,\u201d Bruno told Axcess Baseball. \u201cOne of the things we say here in this organization is \u2018trust the process\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got to trust your players,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey came through for us today and we\u2019re very proud of them.\u201d\u00a0 The Aviators finish the season with a record of 15-5-1, while the Saints finish 18-7-1. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,472,461],"tags":[3374,3153,3367],"class_list":{"0":"post-51130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archive","8":"category-game-recaps","9":"category-news","10":"tag-li-boys-of-summer-2024","11":"tag-top-tier-aviators","12":"tag-trevor-dugan"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship - Axcess Baseball<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship - Axcess Baseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Trevor Dugan The Saints comeback attempt falls just short as the Top Tier Aviators earn the @liboysofsummer Varsity Division championship FINAL: Aviators 3 – Saints 2 pic.twitter.com\/FvSAZfPRAU \u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 17, 2024 The Top Tier Aviators and Long Island Saints met Saturday morning at East Islip High School in the Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship. Both teams won their semi-final matchups, also played Saturday morning, 11-0.\u00a0 Andrew Buckshaw got the start for the Saints and promptly struck out the first batter of the game. The Aviators then hit back-to-back singles, and were able to score their first run of the day on an RBI groundout by Nick Moraitis. Buckshaw then recorded another swinging strikeout to end the first inning. He would finish with six strikeouts in just four innings of work.\u00a0 Top Tier held a 1-0 lead after a hectic top of the first. Dan McConnell took the mound for the Aviators and fired a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the bottom of the frame, a sign of things to come as he would remain in the game until the final out.\u00a0 The Saints didn\u2019t need to wait long for another chance to hit. Buckshaw answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the second, and by this point both pitchers were settling in nicely.\u00a0 In the top of the third, the Aviators pushed across two more runs to bring their lead to 3-0. Back-to-back throwing errors by the Saints infield allowed one run to score, while the second came on an RBI double by catcher Christian Meadows.\u00a0\u00a0 Another shutdown inning by McConnell kept the score at 3-0 following that outburst by the Aviators. Through three innings, McConnell had six strikeouts, and would end up with 12 on the day.\u00a0 It was a true pitchers duel from that point onward, as pitchers on both sides continued to rack up the strikeouts. Paul McNally entered to pitch for the Saints in the fifth inning, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out four in just two innings. It wasn\u2019t until the bottom of the seventh that another run would cross the plate. With the season on the line, McConnell came out for the seventh inning to try and finish off his complete game shutout. But the Saints were not going to go down without a fight.\u00a0 After a pop-out to start the inning, the Saints got back-to-back singles by Matt Orgera and McNally. A balk moved both runners up a base, then first baseman Kevin Brown drove in Orgera to make it 3-1. McConnell struck out the next batter, but then allowed another single to Buckshaw which cut the Aviator lead to just 3-2. Unfazed by all this, Top Tier Head Coach Steve Bruno chose to stick with his pitcher despite the tough inning. McConnell struck out the final batter to earn the Aviators a hard fought championship victory.\u00a0 Bruno was ecstatic after the game, and commended his players for their years of hard work after what may have been their final season together.\u00a0 \u201cI think it’s a culmination of a lot of things that started back in 12u with a lot of these players,\u201d Bruno told Axcess Baseball. \u201cOne of the things we say here in this organization is \u2018trust the process\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got to trust your players,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey came through for us today and we\u2019re very proud of them.\u201d\u00a0 The Aviators finish the season with a record of 15-5-1, while the Saints finish 18-7-1. &nbsp;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Axcess Baseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/axcessbaseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-18T12:12:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-18T12:13:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_4098.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vinny Messana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@axcessbaseball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@axcessbaseball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vinny Messana\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Vinny Messana\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f547cb10f01b2dcfa9613585604f881f\"},\"headline\":\"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-18T12:12:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-18T12:13:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/\"},\"wordCount\":604,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_4098.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"LI Boys of Summer 2024\",\"Top Tier Aviators\",\"Trevor Dugan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Archive\",\"Game Recaps\",\"NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/\",\"name\":\"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship - 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He is a 2013 graduate of Adelphi University and he is currently the Long Island area scout for the San Diego Padres\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/author\/vmessana\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship - Axcess Baseball","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship - Axcess Baseball","og_description":"by Trevor Dugan The Saints comeback attempt falls just short as the Top Tier Aviators earn the @liboysofsummer Varsity Division championship FINAL: Aviators 3 – Saints 2 pic.twitter.com\/FvSAZfPRAU \u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 17, 2024 The Top Tier Aviators and Long Island Saints met Saturday morning at East Islip High School in the Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship. Both teams won their semi-final matchups, also played Saturday morning, 11-0.\u00a0 Andrew Buckshaw got the start for the Saints and promptly struck out the first batter of the game. The Aviators then hit back-to-back singles, and were able to score their first run of the day on an RBI groundout by Nick Moraitis. Buckshaw then recorded another swinging strikeout to end the first inning. He would finish with six strikeouts in just four innings of work.\u00a0 Top Tier held a 1-0 lead after a hectic top of the first. Dan McConnell took the mound for the Aviators and fired a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the bottom of the frame, a sign of things to come as he would remain in the game until the final out.\u00a0 The Saints didn\u2019t need to wait long for another chance to hit. Buckshaw answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the second, and by this point both pitchers were settling in nicely.\u00a0 In the top of the third, the Aviators pushed across two more runs to bring their lead to 3-0. Back-to-back throwing errors by the Saints infield allowed one run to score, while the second came on an RBI double by catcher Christian Meadows.\u00a0\u00a0 Another shutdown inning by McConnell kept the score at 3-0 following that outburst by the Aviators. Through three innings, McConnell had six strikeouts, and would end up with 12 on the day.\u00a0 It was a true pitchers duel from that point onward, as pitchers on both sides continued to rack up the strikeouts. Paul McNally entered to pitch for the Saints in the fifth inning, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out four in just two innings. It wasn\u2019t until the bottom of the seventh that another run would cross the plate. With the season on the line, McConnell came out for the seventh inning to try and finish off his complete game shutout. But the Saints were not going to go down without a fight.\u00a0 After a pop-out to start the inning, the Saints got back-to-back singles by Matt Orgera and McNally. A balk moved both runners up a base, then first baseman Kevin Brown drove in Orgera to make it 3-1. McConnell struck out the next batter, but then allowed another single to Buckshaw which cut the Aviator lead to just 3-2. Unfazed by all this, Top Tier Head Coach Steve Bruno chose to stick with his pitcher despite the tough inning. McConnell struck out the final batter to earn the Aviators a hard fought championship victory.\u00a0 Bruno was ecstatic after the game, and commended his players for their years of hard work after what may have been their final season together.\u00a0 \u201cI think it’s a culmination of a lot of things that started back in 12u with a lot of these players,\u201d Bruno told Axcess Baseball. \u201cOne of the things we say here in this organization is \u2018trust the process\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got to trust your players,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey came through for us today and we\u2019re very proud of them.\u201d\u00a0 The Aviators finish the season with a record of 15-5-1, while the Saints finish 18-7-1. &nbsp;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/","og_site_name":"Axcess Baseball","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/axcessbaseball","article_published_time":"2024-08-18T12:12:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-18T12:13:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_4098.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Vinny Messana","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@axcessbaseball","twitter_site":"@axcessbaseball","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vinny Messana","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/"},"author":{"name":"Vinny Messana","@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f547cb10f01b2dcfa9613585604f881f"},"headline":"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship","datePublished":"2024-08-18T12:12:38+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-18T12:13:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/"},"wordCount":604,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_4098.jpg","keywords":["LI Boys of Summer 2024","Top Tier Aviators","Trevor Dugan"],"articleSection":["Archive","Game Recaps","NEWS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/","url":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2024\/08\/18\/game-recap-top-tier-aviators-win-boys-of-summer-varsity-division-championship\/","name":"GAME RECAP: Top Tier Aviators Win Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship - 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