Brody Butts of Dodgers Nation Byrnes locks in a pitch that he rips for an RBI double. 

By Sean Reilly

Brody Butts stands out during pre-game warmups for his small size.

Once the contest begins, the Long Island Dodgers Nation Byrnes 12U player earns notice for his impressive skills.

Butts didn’t turn 10 until earlier this month. But he was not only present for Dodgers Nation Byrnes 12U at Diamond Nation over the weekend, he was batting leadoff and playing four different positions.

“l love playing baseball,” he said after going 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and one RBI when Dodgers Nation Byrnes closed out pool play in the Super 12U Fall Invitational with a 12-4 victory over Stars Baseball McGinn in Flemington.

Butts opened the game with a first-pitch double to left field, which set up a five-run inning for Dodgers Nation. He added an RBI double in the second, and singled and accounted for a run in the fourth.

He also played center field, shortstop, second base and even pitched an inning as his team completed a 2-1 weekend at ‘The Nation.’

“I had a great time here,” he said. “The hotel was fun, I like these fields and it was all very good.”

In addition to his love for the game, it’s clear that Dodgers Nation loves having him atop its batting order.

After setting the first-pitch tone to begin the day, he immediately scored when Jasper Persaud followed with a RBI single to center. Persaud stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch as Jackson Martin drew a base on balls. Kieran Dasilva’s ground out to first scored Persaud, and Brock Conway hit a full-count double to right field for a 3-0 lead. Nico Burreisci added a two-out single for the fourth run, and he scored on a grounds rule double to right center from Jordan Cruz.

The Virginia-based Stars Baseball McGinn, which finished 1-2, scored once in the bottom of the first when Cruz Hodari doubled to left-center with two out and Jack Kang followed with an RBI single to right field.

Dodgers Nation extended its lead to 6-1 in the second. Mike Newman singled to right with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Butts ripped a double to right-center.

Stars Baseball got within 6-2 in the bottom of the frame. Brady Kang singled with one out and scored when the next batter Lucas Donahue doubled to left field.

Dodgers Nation added three more runs in the third. Burreisci (2-for-3) hit a two-run double to right field with one out, stole third and then scored when Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to right field.

Butts hit a two-out single to left field in the fourth inning. His runner took third when Persaud doubled to left center, and Martin reached on an error to score a run.

Dodgers Nation scored on an error and Cruz single for a 12-2 lead in the fifth.

Stars Baseball got an RBI double from Dylan McInerney and a run-scoring single by Mikey McGinn in the bottom of the inning.

Persaud and Cruz both finished with two hits apiece for Dodgers Nation Byrnes.

Hodari and Kang both ended 2-for-3 for Stars Baseball McGinn.