Greg Viloria follows through on a single during a three-run first inning for Vikings Baseball.
By Sean Reilly
Cody Alicea has been a familiar face around Diamond Nation the past few years competing for an outstanding Out Of The Park Cyclones Prospects team, which as of this fall, has aged up to the 15U level.
Since September, he’s also been a freshman at Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, where he’s expected to become a valued member of the baseball team.
This autumn, the OOTP Cyclones 15U Prospects, who’ve won more than 90 percent of their weekend tournament games at ‘The Nation’ going back to their younger small field days, have taken on the extra challenge of facing older competition in the High School Fall League at the complex.
One of the other 20-plus teams competing in the league has been Vikings Baseball, which is comprised of players from Union Catholic.
Because the concept of the Fall League is more about getting reps than serious roster rigidity, Alicea has spent time the past two months playing for both teams.
But as luck would have it, the sides were paired for the first time against each other on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the league playoffs.
Since OOTP doesn’t have as deep a roster for the fall with other players taking part in fall sports activities, that’s the team Alicea played for in the game.
As further luck would have it, the 1:50 play clock expired during the fifth inning with the game tied. That meant the sixth would be played under the bases loaded with one out tiebreaker.
Second-seeded OOTP was the home team, and pitcher Vincent Donofrio navigated the top of the inning by getting two quick outs from the seventh-seeded Vikings on an infield fly to third base and a shortstop-to-second base force out.
So who would be the leadoff batter for OOTP in the bottom of the inning? None other than Alicea.
Facing one of his main buddies from Union Catholic, he jumped on the first pitch and launched it over the head of the right fielder for a hit that gave OOTP a 5-4 victory.
“That was pretty weird,” Alicea said.
Because of the tiebreaker format, Alicea knew from the top of the inning while he was playing first base that he’d be leading off the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded. With all that time to mentally prepare, it was just a question of whether or not he’d be the batter with the score tied or his team behind.
Donofrio took care of that part. But either way. Alicea was ready.
“I wanted to get on a first-pitch fastball,” he said.
That’s what he got, he launched it to deep right for the win that improved the Cyclones to 7-1 in the league, even though they’ve been facing opponents as much as three years older.
“It felt good,” he said. “It was a strange situation, but a nice way to end it.”
Vikings Baseball scored three times in the top of the first.
Ryan Gianchiglia led off with a single to right field and Greg Viloria sent him to second with a single to left. The next two batters struck out, but a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third along the way.
Brian McCabe drove in both with a single to center, and after a base hit by Jason Sporer, McCabe scored when E.J. Onyschak singled to left.
Dylan Pudlak leads of third base before stealing home for the OOTP 15U Prospects on a first-and-third running play in the Fall League quarterfinals.
The Cyclones began to chip away beginning with one run in the second. Dylan Pudlak walked on a full count with one out, and Lucas Bolton hit a single to left. Nick Yacykewych flew out to center, with Pudlak moving to third. Pudlak then scored from third on a first-and-third base running play before Bolton was tagged after a rundown for the third out.
The Cyclones added two runs in the third for a 3-3 tie.
Gianni Cenicola led off with a single to left and Andrew Schmieder walked. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Joe Larosa – one of two older players added to the Prospects lineup to fill out the roster – hit a two-run single to right.
The Cyclones went ahead after scoring once in the fourth. Bolton led off with a single to left, and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Yacykewych. The lineup flipped to the top and Cenicola, who went 3-for-3, hit an RBI single to right.
Vikings Baseball needed to score in the top of the fifth, since the clock was about to expire.
The first two batters were retired, but Gianchiglia, Viloria and Brayden Morrison all walked to load the bases. Luiggi Sacca also walked to score Gianchiglia with the tying run.
Onyachak ended 2-for-3 for Vikings Baseball. Aside from Cenicola’s three-hit night, the Prospects were also bolstered by Bolton, who went 2-for-2.