Logan Bohn is safe at first for Iron Nine Baseball 16U at the Grand Slam tournament.
By Sean Reilly
Lucas Askins had no idea what he was instigating after hitting a first-pitch double to start the top of the fourth inning for his Iron Nine Baseball 16U team on Sunday morning at Diamond Nation.
Iron Nine was hitless to that point, but the double from Askins initiated an eight-run inning that sent the Essex County-based team to a 9-5 win over Baseball U Pa 16U Regional in the final pool game for both at the Grand Slam tournament, Powered By Kessler Rehab, in Flemington.
Iron Nine had lost and tied in its two prior games, so concluding with a win was a great way to close out the tournament.
“I just came up looking to do damage,” said Askins, a New Providence High School player who added an RBI single for the final run of the inning that featured seven hits and 13 batters. “We hadn’t done much to that point and I was thinking, see my pitch and drive it.”
Despite having been no-hit through the first three innings, Iron Nine took a 1-0 lead in the second. That’s because Logan Bohn reached on a two-out error and stole second. The next batter struck out, but the catcher couldn’t hold on to the ball, and an error on the throw to first allowed Bohn to score.
Baseball U tied in the third after Nate Sartori hit a one-out triple to center field and scored on Dylan Hunter’s single to right.
After Askins hit the double to start the fourth, Henry Court walked. Jacob Minnefor, who was also the winning pitcher, dropped down a sacrifice bunt which turned into a three-base error that scored Askins and Court. Josh Chiaravalloti was up next and hit an RBI double to left center.
Dylan Hunter hits an RBI single into right field for Baseball U Pa 16U Regional.
After a pitching change, Bohn hit a single to left, with Chiarvallotti holding at third. Bohn took second base before a foul pop out for the first out of the inning. Josh Beronio followed with a two-run single to left for a 6-1 lead.
Noah Littman hit a single to put runners on first and third, and Littman took second before Mason Ewing reached on an error that scored the lead runner and sent Littman to third. Aayush Karlekar supplied an RBI ground out to second before Askins hit a single to left for the 9-1 advantage.
Baseball U scored twice in the bottom of the fourth. Jameson McCollum led off with a single and later scored on an error. Evan VanBuskirk reached on a fielder’s choice and also scored on an error.
Baseball U added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. VanBuskirk walked with one out, Jeff Guido doubled him to third and Damian Long hit a sacrifice fly to shallow right field. Sartori then hit an RBI double to finish his 2-for-2 game that also included a walk.
Askins ended 2-for-4 and Bohn was 2-for-3 for Iron Nine.
“I’m happy that we could end the weekend with a win,” Askins said. “We haven’t had an inning like that one in the fall, and it’s great to get a win for momentum and morale. Hopefully we can carry that into our next few weekends.”