By Sean Reilly
The situation surrounding Devlin Hye’s seventh-inning at-bat changed several times on Sunday afternoon at Diamond Nation.
One thing, however, did not — a need to put the ball in play for his MC Oilers 14U Black team, against the Diamond Jacks Gold 14U in the final of the Around The Horn Gold Bracket tournament in Flemington.
When the at-bat began, his team was down a run, with runners on first and third, with one out in the bottom of the inning.
Before a pitch was thrown, an errant pickoff to first following a fake to third scored Lucas Collins with the tying run.
The miscue also allowed James Maranino, the runner at first, to take second.
With the complexion of the at-bat now changed entirely, another twist soon followed.
The first offering to the plate was a swinging strike, which was followed by a wild pitch that evened the count and sent Maranino to third.
Now, the score was tied, the winning run was on third and the infield was forced to play in.
Even though the next pitch was another swinging strike, the situation was now entirely in his favor, and Hye took advantage.
He hit a grounder to the left side of the infield that was hit hard enough to get past the pitcher, but too softly for the charging shortstop to successfully field and throw in time to get Maranino at the plate.
It was an RBI fielder’s choice, and it gave the Shore team a 4-3 victory for its first championship of the 2026 season.
“It went from trying to put something in the outfield with the runners on first and third, to trying to at least move the runner over when the score was 3-3 with the runner on second,” Hye said. “Once he got to third, it was just put something hard on the ground and in play.”
That’s what he did, and it gave the MC Oilers the well-earned title while completing a 4-0 weekend.
“It’s amazing,” Hye said. “It feels great. That’s what you practice for. It was a great game, and the whole weekend was great. We played phenomenal, especially the defense. The defense is what won us games. We came up short in our first tournaments, so this is huge.”
The winning rally began after the first batter in the home half of the seventh struck out. Collins was hit by a pitch, and stole second with Maranino at the plate. Maranino hit a grounder and was safe on an error, with Collins moving to third.
Devlin Hye pitched the first four innings, then hit the game-clinching fielder’s choice for the Oilers.
The pickoff play error followed, with Collins scoring the tying run and Maranino taking second. The wild pitch and clinching fielder’s choice came next, as Maranino scored ahead of the throw home.
The Oilers took a 1-0 lead in the first. Jack Harr reached on a one out error and Chase Zappala drew a walk. Jaxon Bernick followed with an RBI single to left field.
The Diamond Jacks scored three times in the fourth for a 3-1 lead.
Sending up the top of the order, Lucian Magazzu led off and was hit by a pitch. Ian Peros singled to left, sending Magazzu to second. Marco Gulyas hit a two-run double to left, and he scored when next batter, Drew Pietrowski, singled to right field.
The Oilers got within 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Jack Harber led off with a single to left. With leadoff man Logan Travis at the plate, an error on a pickoff try moved Harber to second and a passed ball sent him to third. Travis then hit a sacrifice fly to right field.
Pietrowski and Connor Rozycki each went 2-for-3 for the Diamond Jacks.
No one had more than one hit for the Oilers. Hye pitched the first four innings, while Travis earned the win by allowing three hits over three scoreless innings. He struck out four and walked none.