The New York Nine Scout Team made a successful six game run in three short days to capture the Mid-Atlantic Showdown crown this past weekend at Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, Long Island. This was the Scout Team’s second tournament crown of 2017.
The tournament opened with the Nine playing against a very solid, well coached Millburn (NJ) Millers club. The club was comprised of many players who helped Millburn HS claim the New Jersey 4A state title. Derrick Jimenez threw six innings allowing a single run in the victory while Carlos De La Cruz‘s grand slam broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth, a lead the Nine did not relinquish in the 8-2 victory.
Game two saw the Nine get off to quick start on an Angel Presinal walk, a Danny Alfonzo double followed by a Danny Perez RBI single that scored Presinal. Danny Alfonzo‘s long home run to center to lead off the bottom of the 3rd highlighted his three hit effort. Shawn Harrison and Nick Vella each added two hits and an RBI in support of starter DJ Flug who fanned four hitters in four innings as the Nine defeated the Rye Grays by a score of 6-2.
In a winner moves on, loser goes home final pool play game, the Nine and Knights played to a draw after 4 innings, including a first inning Carlos De La Cruz RBI double and a 3rd inning Danny Alfonzo solo home run to right center. But in the 5th, after Nick Vella reached on a strikeout and wild pitch, Angel Presinal doubled Vella in to give the Nine the lead, which would grow to 5-2 by the end of the inning. Chris Pichardo entered the game in the 3rd with runners on 1st and 2nd and threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief punching out 3, and sending the Nine to the playoffs.
In the quarterfinal, the second seeded Nine met the seventh seeded Connecticut Bulldogs who had scored in bunches in pool play. And as the Nine did all tournament long, jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning. Angel Presinal singled, Danny Alfonzo walked and Danny Perez hit a long double on the first pitch, scoring Presinal. This was no ordinary double by Perez, this double hit the very top of the fence and took a right turn and then bounced off the fence again and back into the field of play. After a Carlos De La Cruz sac fly, Francisco Soriano singled in Perez. After a Soriano stolen base, Shawn Harrison singled him in which ended the scoring in the first. The 3rd inning saw the Nine bats come alive again with a Presinal single, and back to back walks by Alfonzo and Perez. This saw Carlos De La Cruz at the plate and he wasted no time, by crushing the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a slam that put the Nine up 8-0. Anthony Costa shut down the Bulldogs offense, allowing 1 hit in 4 innings striking out 5. The 10-2 win advanced the Nine to the semi-finals to face another Connecticut team.
The Semi-finals saw the Nine face the third seeded Connecticut Moose, who brought one of the top offenses in the tournament with them, averaging nearly 7 runs per game in their first 4 games. The Nine did not get off to a quick start offensively, and the game’s first 2 and a half innings saw the score knotted at 0. It was at this point, the Nine bats exploded, scoring 7 runs in the 3rd and 5 more in the 4th. The 3rd inning started with a Braulio Melo walk and a Nick Vella line drive single. Angel Presinal then reached on an error and Danny Alfonzo doubled. Danny Perez and Carlos De La Cruz both walked, followed by a Francisco Soriano single and a long Shawn Harrison sac fly. Jesse Spellman ended the scoring in the 3rd with a 2 RBI single on a ball hit back up the middle. The 4th inning saw more of the same from the Nine, with 4 singles and 2 walks scoring 5 runs. De La Cruz ended the game showing his speed by scoring the game winning run on a short wild pitch. Dimitri Papazoglou fired a complete game, propelling the Nine into the Tournament finals.
After winning two previous games, the Nine kicked off the tournament championship game vs LIB Roar at 8:30 pm with Adelphi bound Austin Cole on the bump. LIB Roar knocked off the #1 seed in the semi-finals and averaged 6.6 runs per game heading into the finals. The first inning saw neither team push a run across the plate, but the 2nd was a different story for the Nine, who, like they did all tournament, capitalized on an error. Carlos De La Cruz reached on an error and Francisco Soriano immediately doubled him to 3rd. Catcher, JP Compres drove in De La Cruz with an RBI single. After a Jose Arroyo walk, Nick Vella smoked a 2 out line drive single back up the middle to score 2. After LIB scored one back on an error, the Nine once again capitalized on a misplay. Danny Perez singled, De La Cruz walked and Shawn Harrison reached on an error. JP Compres once again came up and drove in 2 on a hard single to left field scoring 2. After an Arroyo walk, Jesse Spellman had an RBI walk to end the scoring in the 3rd. Austin Cole fanned seven in his 4.1 innings only allowing 1 hit. Chris Pichardo finished the 5th with 2 strikeouts. Matt Demartini threw the final outs of the Tournament as the Nine lifted the Mid-Atlantic Showdown Trophy with a 7-2 win.
Tournament Notes:
Danny Perez lead the team in batting average and on base percentage and had a triple slash line of .538/.667/.615
Carlos De La Cruz led the team in slugging percentage with 1.071 and RBI with 13 had a triple slash line of.500/.556/1.071
Angel Presinal led the team in hits with 8
Danny Alfonzo, Carlos De La Cruz and Angel Presinal tied for the lead in runs with 8
Austin Cole led the team in strikeouts with 7
Chris Pichardo got the win in 2 games, struck out 5 and didn’t walk any
As a team, for the tournament, the Nine hit over .400 and had a triple slash line of .401/.485/.585
41% of Nine hits went for extra bases, with Carlos De La Cruz leading the way with 57.1%
As a team, in 34 innings, the Nine had an ERA of 1.85 and struck out 38
