Kieran Brendle scores the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning for the Expos.
By Rich Bevensee
When Kieran Brendle reached second base, only one thing was on his mind. He did not want to infuriate coach Todd Leathers in the midst of a tie game in his team’s final at bat.
But instead of holding up for an easy double, Brendle, a 6-foot, 190-pound catcher not known for his speed, took a chance and used his last gear to charge into third.
“Once I saw the third baseman catch the ball I thought I was going to be in the doghouse if I didn’t get there, so it gave me some motivation to get there a little quicker,” Brendle said.
Brendle did reach third safely, much to Leathers’ and everyone else’s relief. Two pitches later he scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh inning to lift Locked In Expos Blue 16U to a 5-4 victory over Wladyka Continental in the Super 16 Invitational on Saturday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
The top five teams from the Super 16 advance to the Super 25 Showcase, here at ‘The Nation’ Aug. 10-13.
“We had a good talk before the game,” Brendle said. “This is the first game of a long summer and we said you gotta fight for each other. That’s what it takes to win games. I think we did that perfectly today.”
The Expos entered the top of the seventh trailing Wladyka, 4-3. With one out Blake Tyburczy stroked a grounds-rule double, stole third and scored on a Mason LaNeve groundout to tie the game.
Brendle, a rising junior at Chatham, was up next. He batted .338 for the varsity this spring but of his 22 hits, two were doubles and none were triples. When he whipped a 2-0 pitch into the right-center field gap, Brendle started thinking about ending that three-bag drought.
“I saw the ball still on the warning track coming into second base and thought, Why not? So I turned into third gear there,” Brendle said.
It turns out it was a gutsy move. On a 1-1 offering to Mitch Knock, Brendle scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
“I was not super happy when I saw him coming into third, but I was happy when he was safe,” Leathers said. “It’s one of those things if you’re a coach, you’re yelling at him in your head and then you say good job.”
Expos pitching – righty Max Webber, lefty Joseph Lombardo and righties Dante Aiello and Javier Bonforte – stymied Wladyka batters to the tune of 15 strikeouts, which kept rallies short-lived.
That did not sit well with Wladyka coach Brian Chapman.
“That’s a game where we need to do a better job offensively,” Chapman said. “We struck out at a pretty high rate. We didn’t put enough balls in play. In a 16U baseball game when you put the ball in play, kids make mistakes, and we didn’t put enough pressure on their defense.
Devin Murray strokes an RBI triple in the third inning for Wladyka.
“But we fought. This age group is interesting because they improve fast, so for Game 1, I’m happy.”
Even though 71 percent of Wladyka’s outs came by strikeout, it still held the lead twice in this game. It led 2-1 after the third inning, and scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to take that 4-3 lead.
In the sixth with two on and two out, Wladyka cleanup batter James Flett lofted a single to deep left field which was lost in the lights and resulted in Devin Murray and Charlie Emma scoring.
The Expos, which trailed twice in the game, used their final at bat – the game clock was winding down under 10 minutes – to make their final stand in the top of the seventh.
“That was a good comeback,” Leathers said. “It was going well, going well and then something happens you can’t really control and all of a sudden you’re behind. But they answered back. Blake had the big hit and then Kieran. It was great.”
Webber, a rising junior at Seton Hall Prep, pitched two innings and allowed one run on no hits and two walks with six strikeouts for the Expos. Lombardo, a rising junior at Chatham, pitched two innings and allowed one run on one hit and two walks with four strikeouts.
Dante Aiello, a rising junior at Montville, threw 1⅔ innings and permitted two runs on one hit and two walks with four strikeouts. Javier Bonforte, a rising junior at Summit, held Wlaydka scoreless over the final 1⅓ innings, striking out one and walking one.
“They did good,” Leathers said. “With stacked tournaments on top of each other and the Super 17 here next week, we have to make sure guys are ready for that. So we had guys go a little bit today. They did a nice job tonight. Two innings let everybody get their feet wet.”
For Wladyka, starting righty Chris Tortorella, a rising junior at Union Catholic, was exceptional in his three innings of work. He was on a 50-pitch count and finished at 48. He struck out seven while allowing one run on one hit and one walk.
Jack Powers, a rising junior at Seton Hall Prep, threw the final four innings for Wladyka and yielded four runs on four hits and three walks with one strikeout.
Brendle jump-started the Expos offense with an RBI single in the first inning.
Wladyka took a 2-1 lead in the third. James Flett scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the second and Murray walloped an RBI triple in the third to give his team the lead.
The Expos bounced back in their next at bat in the top of the fourth. Leo Massenzio singled after lofting a ball into shallow right which was lost in the sun. Tyburczy then hit a soft liner into center for a single. Massienzo scored on a wild pitch with one out and LaNeve drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out sacrifice fly for a 3-2 lead.