The Expos’ Michael Barbarisi rapped two hits, including a key RBI single in the sixth inning.
By Rich Bevensee
This much may be said about Michael Barbarisi, Noah Dirmann and their Locked in Baseball Expos 14U Blue teammates:
In close games where every pitch and every play matters and nerves can get frayed very easily, the Expos appear ready to meet the challenge.
Friday night’s game against Diamond Jacks 14U White was a perfect example. There were two lead changes and two ties, neither team led by more than two runs, and the game was decided in the final inning.
That was when Barbarasi provided a key insurance run with an RBI single in the top of the sixth, and Dirmann turned away a late Diamond Jacks rally in the bottom of the sixth to polish off two scoreless innings of relief work. The result was a 6-4 Expos pool play victory on the opening night of the Spring Classic Powered by Victus at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“The more close games you play, the more it’s going to make you that much better,” Expos coach Anthony Spezzaferra said. “Anyone can win a 15-1 game. But when you learn to play the game, you grow up really fast when you’re in intense games like that.”
Spezzaferra was pleased to see six different players provide an RBI, and that the bottom half of his lineup provided more than half of those runs.
No. 8 hitter Barbarisi was the only Expo with two hits. No. 10 and 11 hitters Augie Doehner and Gunnar Hulse had RBI singles. And No. 7 hitter Dante Kim forced in a run by working a bases loaded walk.
“It’s my job to help the team no matter where I hit in the lineup,” Barbarisi said. “All the guys feel that way. If you’re in the lineup, you have a job to do. Everyone on this team can hit, so it doesn’t matter where you hit. We all believe we can get the job done.”
Dirmann came on in the fifth in relief of Schriraj Ramani and pitched around a leadoff walk. The sixth inning was a bit more dicey.
After retiring the first two batters, Dirmann allowed the potential tying run to reach when he walked Michael Grasso and yielded a line drive single to Jake Sousa. Dirmann halted the drama by getting Colin Casey to line out to short.
“It’s always scary for every pitcher. You have the game on the line and your arm starts to shake and your body gets tense,” Dirmann said. “I started to get a little stressed, but when I get into intense situations I tend to calm myself down, take a breather, walk around the mound. It helps me refocus, rethink what I’m going to throw.”
The Expos milked the 1-hour, 50-minute game clock down to the final minutes while breaking a 4-4 tie in the sixth with two runs, one from Kim’s bases-loaded walk and the second from Barbarisi’s RBI single to left.
Following Barbarisi’s single, Diamond Jacks reliever Sousa escaped a bases-loaded jam by getting the next two outs. Doehner, the Expos right fielder, provided Dirmann some defensive relief with a running catch toward the right foul line for the first out in the bottom of the sixth.
L.J. Ferraro is greeted by his DJacks teammates after belting a solo home run in the third inning.
After Grasso and Sousa reached to represent the tying runs for the Diamond Jacks, Dirmann got Casey to line out to end the game.
“It’s still early in the season and I’m still getting to know them because it’s my first season with them, but a lot of them have ice in their veins,” Spezzaferra said. “Like I said, when you learn to play in and win close games, you grow up quickly.”
Max Webber got the Expos moving in the first with an RBI groundout following a Patrick Brosnan double.
An Expos infield error in the bottom of the inning led to a pair of unearned runs for the Diamond Jacks, as Jacob Futterman made the Expos pay with a stubborn eight-pitch at bat and a two-out, two-run single for a 2-1 lead.
The Expos reclaimed the lead for good with a pair of runs in the second when Doehner and Hulse clicked for back-to-back RBI singles. Smooth swinging lefty Ryan Peterson added another run for the Expos with an RBI single through the right side in the third for a 4-2 lead.
The Diamond Jacks’ L.J. Ferraro got his team within one with a big solo home run blast into the right field netting, and the home team tied up the game in the fourth when No. 10 hitter Casey lofted a high fly into left field which fell in for an RBI double.
Ramani threw four innings for the Expos, allowing four runs on seven hits and no walks with three strikeouts. Grasso, his Diamond Jacks counterpart, lasted three innings and permitted four runs on six hits and five walks with four strikeouts. Sousa pitched the final three frames and yielded two runs on three hits, four walks and a hit batsman.