New York Nine Rookies spent Memorial Day Weekend at the Sports at the Beach Patriotic Pursuit Tournament. Opening up against the York Young Revolution. The Nine jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as George Kyriakopoulos doubled Mono Boutsikakis home with the first run of the tournament. After falling behind 2-1, the Nine plated 5 in the bottom of the 2nd, helped by back to back doubles from Micah Garrett and Kyriakopoulos. Dylan Munoz was 2-2 with 2 runs scored. Sabin Ghale walked twice and scored 2 runs and Nate Apolinar walked, singled and scored twice. Munoz relieved starting pitcher Jack Lobrutto and pitched the Nine out of trouble in the 2nd and threw a clean 3rd inning. Lobrutto was re-entered in the 4th and closed out his own start as the Nine won the opening game by a score of 11-5.
The 2nd game of the day saw the Nine struggle to gain a foothold and got 3 hit by the Avengers. Starter Sebastian Granobles pitched better than the score indicated, but the Nine fell short, 8-0. Sabin Ghale walked two more times to bring his two game total to four.
Day 2 saw the Nine come out hot. The Nine was Led by Kieran Jermyn’s complete game effort and Micah Garrett’s 2 run home run. The Nine jumped out to a 3 run lead behind an Andrew Park single. Mano Boutsikakis had a single, 2 stolen bases and a run scored. Sabin Ghale walked 2 more times with a run scored and Jake Towey chipped in an RBI single. Ultimately the Nine beat the Devil Cats 7-1.
In the 4th and final game of pool play, the Nine needed a win to secure a playoff spot and the Nine played like it. Mano Boutsikakis threw a complete game and went 1-1 with 2 walks and a double. Dylan Munoz went 2-2 with 2 runs scored. Sabin Ghale doubled, walked and scored a run. JA Spanoudakis singled home 2 runs. Sebastian Granobles chipped in an RBI single as the Nine cruised to a dominant 11-1 victory over the Poughkeepsie Lightning.
The Nine finished pool play at 3-1 and made the playoffs as the 4th seed. The quarterfinals saw the Nine take on the Mid Penn Prospects in a close fought battle. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 4th when Andrew Park doubled and scored on a Kieran Jermyn single. Starter Sabin Ghale struck out 8 in 6 innings before allowing 4 runs in the top of the 7th. Mano Boutsikakis was 2-3 with a walk and Sabin Ghale had his 8th walk of the tournament and Sebastian Granobles walked twice. The Nine got 2 guys on the bottom of the 7th, but couldn’t push across the tying run, eliminating the Nine from the playoffs.
