Jared Volpe dives back to first after his two-run single in the second inning for the Naturals.
By Rich Bevensee
Walter Christian and Jared Volpe have entered into an unofficial baseball contract.
Christian is an exceptional contact hitter with outstanding speed. Volpe excels at driving in baserunners. Together, at the top of the lineup for Garden State Naturals 17U, they make for one heck of a 1-2 punch.
The contract is, when Christian is on base, Volpe must send him home.
“That’s pretty much the deal,” Volpe said. “If he doesn’t get on base I don’t get a hit.”
Christian reached on his first two at bats and Volpe drove him in both times to jump start the Naturals, which leaped to a five-run lead and then hung on for a 7-5 victory in a wood bat contest at the Garden State Invitational on Wednesday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
The Naturals improved to 1-1 after bowing to 5-Star National NY-Select on Tuesday. A Thursday doubleheader will round out pool play for the Naturals, who will face Combat 2027 Select and Legacy 9 Baseball.
The Expos fell to 1-1 after beating Legacy 9, 10-6, on Tuesday. The Expos also have a doubleheader on Thursday, with games against 5-Star and Combat on tap.
Right-hander Nick Lukachyk, a rising senior at Woodbridge, gutted out 3⅔ innings for the Naturals in 100-degree heat to earn the win. He allowed two runs on four hits and five walks with four strikeouts.
“He didn’t have his best stuff but he grinded it out,” Naturals coach Jerry Riporti said. “He was very competitive. He’s been the leader of our team for a while. Kept it to two runs, grinded in 105 degree weather. That says it all right there.”
Lukachyk was staked to a 5-0 lead after two innings, largely because of the Christian-Volpe contract. Christian is a graduated senior from St. Joseph Metuchen who is headed for Delaware. Volpe, the cousin of New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, is a rising senior at Old Bridge.
“One of them is my high school guy, and Jared is Anthony Volpe’s cousin, so it’s in the blood,” said Riporti, an assistant coach at St. Joe’s. “Both are tremendous guys and they set the table for us very well.”
In the first inning, Christian scored all the way from first on a Volpe double to the left center gap. Lukachyk added a sacrifice fly and John Espin added an RBI single for a 3-0 lead.
In the second, Travis Binkley singled before Christian reached on a fielder’s choice and got an exceptional jump on the first pitch to Volpe, who singled to right center. Christian raced all the way around to score for a 5-0 Naturals lead.
“If he’s on first base and I get a single, he’s probably gonna score on it,” said Volpe, who batted .309, third-best on the team, with 14 RBI last spring for Old Bridge.
Logan Costello blasted an RBI triple in the third inning for the Expos.
“Whenever I’m on first and somebody hits the ball, I try to take the extra base,” Christian said.
Christian, who has been extended a walk-on tryout invitation at Delaware, said he sees it as a challenge to see how far he can get on the most ordinary of base hits. He said running is the best of his five tools.
Makes sense. This past winter during the indoor track season, Christian set impressive personal bests of 6.82 seconds in the 55-meter dash, 23.1 in the 200 and 52.0 in the 400.
“I love being a speed player,” Christian said. “Speed isn’t the only way to take an extra base. I got a lot of baseball knowledge from coach Jerry, coach Rob (Lukachyk) and coach Dennis (McCaffery, head coach at St. Joe’s) – being aggressive, looking around to see where everyone is. If the outfielder is playing back, make sure you see that so you can take the extra base and check out their arm.”
The Expos got their first two runs in the bottom of the third when Logan Costello tripled home Drew Friday and Drew Speace had an RBI groundout.
When Lukachyk tired with two out in the fourth, freshman Joe Sarrubbo took over and got the final out with two runners in scoring position to maintain the Naturals’ 5-2 lead.
The Naturals tacked on two more runs in the fifth with bases-loaded walks by Andrew Scaff and Binkley.
With no time left on the game clock, the Expos entered the bottom of the sixth trailing, 7-2, but did not go out with a whimper. They scored three runs and had the winning run at the plate.
Tyler Jacobs, a Slugfest MVP for the Expos in September of 2024 at ‘The Nation,’ led off the fifth with a solo home run to right field. He finished 2-for-3. Casey Kucerka (2-for-3) singled and eventually scored on an infield error to bring the Expos within three.
Christian relieved Sarrubbo with two out and Alex Dragone (2-for-3) greeted him with an RBI double to right center. The Expos had runners at second and third with the winning run at the plate, but Christian got a strikeout to end the game.
Riporti noted the performances by his two St. Joe’s rising sophomores in the lineup, playing up at 17U. Sarrubbo pitched one inning and allowed three runs on two hits and one walk with one strikeout. Espin, who caught all five innings on the challenging turf heat, went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.