Bucks County Generals left fielder Brandon Labs gets ready to rip in Saturday’s Easter Extravaganza.

By Will Harrigan

The Bucks County Generals 14U squad traveled about an hour to get to Flemington for the Easter Extravaganza tournament on Friday.

One thing revealed itself to be obvious right away: They did not forget to bring their bats with them.

In their second offensive explosion of the day, the Generals slugged their way to a 13-3 victory over the Canes NJ/NY Yellow 14U’s in pool play action. The game ended with one out in the fourth inning after the 10-run rule went into effect.

With their 2-0 record and the pool’s other games breaking their way, the Generals have already sealed their place as the Group A winner and will participate in tomorrow afternoon’s semifinals. Bucks County defeated Phoenix Select by an 8-1 margin in its first game.

The biggest blows came off the bat of third-baseman Colin Morgan, who went 2-for-3 with two doubles and five RBI to lead the way for the winners.

“Once we get one or two guys going, everything usually starts to go for us. We have a lot of good hitters and seeing someone else get on base definitely carries over,” Morgan said.

After falling behind 2-0 early, the Generals offense went right to work getting the lead.

Leadoff man Sean Hill was struck by a pitch to start the inning, and a bloop single off the bat of Ryan Olson quickly put two men on.

A dropped fly ball off the bat of Brandon Labs scored Hill, and Olson came around when Noah Wilson doubled a batter later.

Morgan then roped a double down the left field line, putting the Generals ahead 4-2 before an out was recorded.

Ryan Fandozzi was the first batter retired by the Canes Yellow squad, but it came on a sacrifice fly to center field to finish off a five-spot in the first.

Olson and Labs reached base again in the second, and once again another Morgan two-bagger – this one hit into left-center – plated two runs, ballooning the lead to 8-2 early.

“Once we had that second big inning, I was feeling good about our chances to win,” Morgan said.

With Keegan Wade’s pitching, Morgan had good reason to feel confident.

After surrendering two runs in the first, Wade got into a groove. A 1-2-3 second inning included three strikeouts looking to retire the side. Wade – who gave up another unearned run in the third – struck out seven Canes Yellow batters and did not walk any.

Brady Sell registered an RBI single in the home third for the Generals, while Hill would double him home two batters later to put the winners at the 10-run mark.

Morgan and Jake Melchior would each drive in runs via a sacrifice fly, and it was the latter sac fly that ended the game.

For the Canes Yellow – a club based out of Wayne that features local talent in Passaic County – the offense got off to a quick start in the first, plating two.

Three-hitter Vincent Vega singled in a run in that frame, while catcher Goldy Cardozo would double home Vega on a deep double in the right-center field gap. Jayson Martinez – the Canes’ speedy left fielder – went 2-for-2 with two stolen bases and two runs scored in a standout performance.

Martinez scored the third run for the Canes on a fielding error by the Generals on a ground ball off Vega’s bat.

Canes NJ/NY Yellow opened Pool A play earlier in the day with a 13-5 victory over the NJ Yankees.