Colin Craig takes off on steal of second for the FB Braves 2030s Select.

By Sean Reilly 

The baseball season may be in its early stages, but Jack Buccola is already rounding into form. 

The right-hander allowed one-hit over four innings on Saturday afternoon, with eight strikeouts and four walks, to power the Flores Baseball Braves 2030s Select to a 7-3 decision over Energy Baseball 14U Fire from Massachusetts at the 14U Diamond Nation Battle At The Turf in Flemington.

While many of the players competing this week at ‘The Nation’ are participating in their first games of the season, that’s not the case for Buccola. 

He played in a tournament last month in Texas, and also threw a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts last week at Diamond Nation in a Spring Invitational tournament victory. 

“I was going with my fastball,” he said of his 70-pitch, 41-strike outing to beat Energy Baseball.  “Last year I was a little wild. This year, I’ve been working on throwing more strikes.” 

The game was tied, 1-1, before the FB Braves pounced on a couple of miscues to blow the game open in a six-run top of the fifth. 

The inning began with a walk to Matthew Tan, and Ben Redente was hit by a pitch before Eddie Rice walked to load the bases with nobody out. 

Noah Leshowitz followed with an RBI single to center field for a 2-1 lead that kept the bases loaded. Gio Vigilante then drew a run-scoring walk. 

After a pitching change, the next batter struck out. Leon Hang was safe on an error that scored a run for a 4-1 lead.

Jack Buccola delivers pitch for the FB Braves 2030s Select.

After the next batter struck out, Colin Craig hit a ball to right field that was dropped, allowing three runs to score for the six-run lead. 

The Fire scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, with Colin Gill hitting an RBI double to right field and Andrew Griffin drawing a walk and later scoring on an error. 

The FB Braves took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Craig hit a one-out single to center and stole second before scoring on a double to center from Mason Dorsett. 

The Fire tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Ben Brunelle walked on a full count with one out, and JJ Nicastro followed with a ball hit to right field that the fielder lost in the sun. The resulting double sent Brunelle to third, and he scored the tying run on a two-out wild pitch. 

Craig and Dorsett ended with two hits apiece for the Braves, who moved to 1-1 in the tournament after a loss on Friday night to the Diamond Jacks Gold 14U. 

Dylan Lincourt was 2-for-3 for the Fire, who were playing in their first game of the tournament.