Senators’ Julius Pabon dives back to first before Cyclones Connor Price can apply the tag.

By Rich Bevensee

For five innings, Metro Senators 2026 South right-hander Beau Padgett was all but untouchable, allowing just one baserunner.

In the sixth, the Out Of The Park Cyclones Prospects found a chink in Padgett’s armor and scored a pair of runs, making the Senators righty look less than invincible for the first time.

One inning later, Padgett’s counterpart, Alex Bolton, was the walk-off hero and Padgett’s magnificent outing was reduced to a footnote.

Bolton, who pitched the first 3⅔ innings for the Cyclones, hammered a walk-off, opposite-field single to drive in Davis Murphy with the winning run and propel the Cyclones to a come-from-behind, 5-4, pool play victory in the 17/18U Wood Bat division of the Labor Day Blast on Saturday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.

Bolton, a rising senior at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High, said it was his first opportunity for a walk-off hit since he was eight or nine years old.

“Best feeling in the world, 100 percent,” Bolton said. “I was nervous, but more confident than nervous.”

The win gave the Cyclones a sweep of their Saturday doubleheader. Earlier they defeated ABSA-Futures Gold 2027, 10-0. 

The Senators bounced back strong after that heartbreaking loss. Later on Saturday, the Lorton, Virginia-based program beat Admirals Baseball, 10-8, and on Sunday they knocked off 17U PPH Red, 13-0. 

The Senators train players from the Washington, D.C. metro area. Padgett is a rising senior at Lake Braddock in Burke, Va., who pitched exceptionally well last spring for his high school team, a season which included a 12-strikeout no-hitter. 

Padgett looked like that guy through the first five innings against the Cyclones, allowing only a third-inning single to Drew Kipila. Aside from that hit, the hardest hit ball was a deep fly to center by Joe LaRosa which Zach Suga tracked down in the first inning. 

It seemed Padgett and the Senators were cruising to victory after his teammates provided him with a 4-0 cushion through the first three innings. In the second inning Ryker Hansen had a two-run double and Nick Ferrara added a bloop RBI single. In the third, Jack Halfhill drove an RBI single into right for a 4-0 Senators lead.

In the sixth, the Cyclones changed their strategy and it paid off with two runs. After Patrick Ferguson and Bolton led off the inning with back-to-back singles to left, Kipila knocked them both in with a one-out double into the left field corner.

Joe LaRosa takes a cut for the OOTP Cyclones Prospects in Labor Day Blast.

“It was a different approach,” Bolton said. “We hunted the fastball early rather than letting it beat us. He was really good early in the game. He was throwing it by us with confidence, too. Once we got one or two hits we figured it out. I don’t think it was necessarily that he was worse. I think it was that we started hunting.”

In the top of the seventh, the Senators had an opportunity to score some insurance runs after getting runners on first and second with one out. But Cyclones reliever Connor Price got a strikeout and groundout to keep his team within two runs. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Padgett surrendered a one-out single to Rob Centamore before handing off to reliever Julius Pabon, who was ticking 80 mph on the radar gun. 

The first batter Pabon faced was Price, who reached on an infield throwing error before Murphy drove in Centamore with a single to bring the Cyclones within a run. 

The next batter was Patrick Ferguson, who singled to right to drive in Price and tie the game.

Bolton followed with a single through the right side to score Murphy from second and win the game. 

“I went up there to do my job,” Bolton said. “My coach told me to stay down and through the ball and that’s what I did. I got my pitch outside and drove it that way.”

It was a tough pill to swallow for Padgett, who brought his team within five outs of a shutout. He allowed three runs on six hits and no walks and he struck out eight using a brand-new cutter in addition to his 84-mph fastball, sweeper and changeup.

“Obviously frustrated,” said Padgett, a 6-foot, 185-pound righty. “There was a little bit of fatigue there in the sixth so I had to rely on my practice and training. If you start giving up some hits, no problem, go back to your training, fall back on your practice. As I like to say, confidence comes from preparation.”

Bolton left the bump after pitching 3⅔ innings. He allowed four runs on six hits and three walks and he struck out three. 

Price was exceptional in relief for the Cyclones, tossing 3⅓ shutout innings. He permitted just one hit and one walk and he struck out four.