By Rich Bevensee
When the Avengers 13U ballclub sauntered into Diamond Nation this weekend, it was coming off an impressive tournament victory two weeks ago in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where all facets of the game were clicking.
But as Avengers coach Frank Farnese knows, all the facets of baseball are not always all there, and that’s when good teams find a way to win.
For three innings the Avengers looked like that championship team in Pennsylvania, jumping out to a huge lead and holding SABRE Baseball to a single run over the first three innings. But things got out of hand from there and the Avengers had to rely on their wits to escape with a 12-8 victory in the Memorial Day Classic on Sunday afternoon at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“Normally we’re a very solid defensive team. Offensively, too,” Farnese said. “We were good for three innings but today we did some uncharacteristic things. We made a pitching change and we weren’t ready for that, we made some defensive mistakes. We know we’re not perfect and we have to keep working.”
The Avengers improved to 2-1 on the weekend. They opened with an 8-2 loss to Diamond Jacks Super 13U, but rebounded with a pair of wins, a 9-0 victory against Riot Baseball on Saturday and a win over SABRE on Sunday. The Avengers will face Underground Vipers on Monday.
Farnese’s son Luke, who batted leadoff, played shortstop and pitched in relief, was a standout at the plate for the Avengers, going 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored. Outfielder Liam Carty was the only other Avenger to get two hits.
The Avengers had just five hits in the game, but many of their runs came from struggling SABRE pitching, which allowed six walks and two hit batsmen.
Just when the game appeared headed for a mercy-rule ending – when a team is leading by 10 runs after four innings – SABRE began scratching back into the game. The Flanders-based program scored five runs when it batted around in the fourth on no hits, six walks and two errors.
“When we won in Pennsylvania, we all were cheering each other on and putting the bats on the ball,” Luke Farnese said. “Today errors killed us. We just gotta’ stop making errors.”
Frank Farnese’s team is an even mixture of veteran and new players due to older boys moving up. And yet the chemistry is solid, as evidenced by the team’s 8-3-1 record this spring. Two weeks ago the Avengers, based in Emmaus, won an East Coast Tournament baseball title at Saucon Park in Bethlehem.
“I feel we’ve been doing really good,” Luke Farnese said. “All the new kids played on the same team so they all know each other, and they’re starting to play really good. It’s good to get to know the new guys because if they get down on themselves we can pick them up.”
For the Avengers, Liam Carty drove in two runs with a bases loaded walk and a single. Caleb Ferrick, A.J. Sebesta, Jack Karoly and Ayden Bekiri each drove in a run. Paul Prokopovits and Chase Spadt both scored twice.
Bekiri was unsteady but effective in allowing one run on no hits over the first three innings for the Avengers. He allowed six walks.
For SABRE (0-3 in pool play), Vinny Capello, Alec Paquette, Jackson Carovillano, Madden Heydorn and Brayden Foley each drove in a run. Capello and Lachlan Costello both scored twice.