Anthony Dominguez of the Sparta Cyclones scores on single by Daniel Gigante.
By Sean Reilly
An essential part of the growth process for a pitcher is knowing how to handle stress on the mound.
Jacob Diaz of the Sparta Cyclones dealt with a few potentially rough situations on Saturday morning at Diamond Nation, but worked around them all, and the result was 5-3 victory for his team over Riot Baseball NJ-Scout as part of the 16U Summer Finale White Division tournament, Powered By Construction Risk Partners.
The first batter Diaz faced in the bottom of the first was Cole Judge, whose hit to center field skipped past a charging outfielder and went for an inside-the-park home run.
A cause for panic? No way.
“It didn’t really affect me because I thought it was just going to be a single, so I didn’t think much of it, especially since it was the beginning of the game,” the left-hander said.
Riot Baseball had more baserunners afterward, on walks and errors, including a bases-loaded spot in the third, but that home run represented the only hit allowed by Diaz until he exited with one out in the sixth inning. He also finished with 10 strikeouts and six walks as the Cyclones improved to 1-1 in the tournament following a Friday loss to the Caribbean All-Stars.
Patrick Black locks in on pitch for the Sparta Cyclones.
“My fastball was working pretty good,” said Diaz, a Class of 2026 player at Sparta High School. “I was commanding it pretty well, and also my curveball.”
The Cyclones scored three times in the top of the second for a 3-1 lead, and stayed ahead for the remainder of the game.
Dylan Furtado started that inning for Sparta by lining a first-pitch single to left field. Cameron Jones walked, and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third.
Antonio Dominguez was up next, and hit a two-run single to center, while also taking second on a throw. Joseph Marotte walked, and Daniel Gigante followed with an RBI single that dropped into center field.
Diaz walked the first batter in the second and then struck out the next three. He struck out the first two in the third, before a walk was followed by an error and another walk. He got another strikeout, this time on a full count, to work out of the jam.
Sparta scored its other two runs in the fourth.
Jake Piotrowsky led off with a walk, and after a pop out to second base, Jones reached on a bunt single. A balk moved the runners to second and third.
A ground out to third forced the runners to stay put, but Marotte was safe on a throwing error that scored both.
There was some drama during the bottom of the sixth, which turned out to be the final inning due to the expiration of the 1:50 game clock.
Riot Baseball first baseman Jackson Whitworth handles throw for an out.
Diaz struck out the first batter, and Logan Streitz reached for Riot Baseball on an infield error. Streitz advanced on a wild pitch and stole third. Jeffrey Wagner walked. A double steal scored a run before Jonathan Greenwood walked.
At that point, Furtado relieved Diaz, and after walking his first batter to load the bases, Ean Marcussen hit an RBI single to right field to get Riot Baseball within two runs. With the tying and winning runs on base, Furtado got a strikeout and pop out to first to end the game.
“This was a good bounce back for us,” Diaz said. “Yesterday was kind of rough. It wasn’t our best game. This one was a lot better.”