Aiden Luccarelli cracks a two-run single in the third inning for the Cyclones.
By Rich Bevensee
Ben Franklin coined a phrase about death and taxes being the only certainties in this world, but he never saw the Out Of The Park Cyclones 18U squad hit the baseball.
There is no certainty as to when the Cyclones will generate offense, only that they will find a way in nearly every single game. Scoring runs has become an inevitable pursuit.
For two innings on Tuesday night, the Cyclones were blanked by the Bucks County Phillies Scout team. In the third, the Cyclones looked like their old selves, scoring runs in bunches.
Aiden Luccarelli and Ronnie Germinder, senior classmates at Scotch Plains-Fanwood, paced an offense which scored eight runs across the third and fourth innings and the Cyclones registered an 8-2, five-inning victory over the Phillies in the Diamond Nation High School Fall League in Flemington.
“I’m never surprised by our offense,” said Luccarelli, who broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the third inning. “Almost every game we find a way to put runs on the board. Even if it’s late in the game and we’re down, we always find a way.”
The Cyclones improved to 5-0 and are averaging seven runs per game in league play.
Since the team convened in early June, the Cyclones are 19-11-2 and have been shut out just three times.
“If you look at our box scores, a lot of our success comes from playing a patient game,” Cyclones coach Travis Zilg said. “We play small ball. We execute. We’ve always been about chipping away. Get one here, get one here. I guess it’s a little surprising that we always find a way to score, but we’re more like a ‘second time through the order, be patient, make the adjustments’ team, and we were able to do that tonight.”
The Cyclones, along with Whitehouse American Legion Post 284 (4-0) and Zoned RedHawks 18U (3-0), are the only remaining undefeated teams in league play. The Cyclones are back in action next Tuesday against the Hackettstown Tigers (2-5-1).
Bucks County lost its second straight and dropped to 4-3 in the league. The Phillies return to ‘The Nation’ Wednesday to take on Allentown Legion (2-3).
Germinder, one of two Cyclones with two hits, had the only base hit his team could muster off Bucks County righty Liam O’Brien through the first two innings. His leadoff base hit in the fourth triggered a three-run rally.
“It’s so much fun, just one guy after the other. That’s the mentality we have as a ballclub,” said Germinder, who’s in his fourth year with the Cyclones. “I enjoy coming to play with this organization every day. We’re like a family here and I can’t be anything but thankful for it.”
Lefty Vin Donofrio, a junior at A.L. Johnson, overcame a small first-inning speedbump to pitch three solid innings for OOTP. He allowed one run on one hit and three walks and struck out six.
Donofrio gave up a hit and two walks to three of the first four batters he faced. The base hit was a first-inning RBI single by Danny Seidler.
Bucks County’s Lucas Perry scurries back to first base after leading off the game with a walk.
From there, Donofrio stranded two runners in scoring position that inning and retired seven of the next eight batters he faced, six by strikeout.
“I thought he settled in well,” Zilg said. “He came in amped up and that’s a good hitting team. He gave up that one hit, lefty lefty, hung a curveball, but stranding those runners in that inning to not make the rally bigger was pretty important. I thought he settled in well and he found his breaking stuff.”
Germinder was quick to credit Donofrio for keeping his team within reach in the early going.
“I feel like most of our success comes from our pitching, and as soon as our pitching does well, we ride off our pitching and the momentum carries us from there,” Germinder said.
In the bottom of the third, Cody Alicea (2-for-2), a sophomore at Union Catholic, sparked the Cyclones’ five-run outburst with a ringing double into the right-center field gap. No. 11 hitter Jack Lilly was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game, and leadoff man Luccarelli followed with a single into left to drive in two runs and give the Cyclones their first lead.
“It’s awesome because once we see one person get a hit, it sparks everyone to have that confidence, and it’s really amazing,” Luccarelli said. “I know everyone in the dugout is rooting for me. I had bases loaded so I knew what I had to do and we had the rally going so I knew I had to keep it going.”
Two batters after Luccarelli’s hit, a double play ball with the bases loaded allowed Lilly to score from third, and Anthony Mustacciuolo added an RBI single for a 5-1 lead.
In the fourth, Germinder led a succession of three straight singles to load the bases, and Alex Bender drove in the next run with a fielder’s choice grounder. Two batters later Lilly was making waves again with a two-run single.
Donofrio stepped aside after three innings and Lucas Sheehan took over. Sheehan permitted one run in two innings on two hits and four walks with three strikeouts.
Will Berkey provided the Phillies with their second run in the top of the fifth with an opposite-field single which fell inside the right field line.
For Bucks County, O’Brien threw two innings and gave up five runs on four hits and one walk with one strikeout. Berkey surrendered three runs in two innings of relief on six hits and no walks with one strikeout. Sam Flansburg pitched to one batter in the fifth before the game clock expired.