Gavin Mason of Diamond Assassins scores on a wild pitch.

By Sean Reilly 

The Diamond Assassins had to wait several hours before taking on the Plymouth Generals in the championship of the Diamond Nation 10U King of the Diamond Tournament on Sunday night.

Sticking around from their South Jersey home was well worth it, since a 13-3 victory earned the Assassins the tournament title.

Before that happened, the Assassins earned their spot in the final with an 18-7 triumph over the Greene County (NY) Outlaws, which was part of an undefeated four-game weekend in which they outscored their opponents, 47-11.

The top-to-bottom strength of the Assassins lineup was on full display throughout, notably in the semifinal decision over the Outlaws, in which 10 of the 11 players in the batting lineup had hits and all 11 scored.

The game was close at the start. The Assassins scored twice with two out in the top of the first, as Gavin Mason and Cody Keister both walked with two out, and both scored on a wild pitch with Dean Oshinsky at the plate.

The Outlaws then tied it in the bottom of the inning, as Chris Brown hit an RBI triple with two out before scoring on a single from Maks Drukarczyk.

After that, the game belonged to the Assassins, starting with an eight-run second that featured RBI doubles from Anthony Mergliano and Zach Carlotto, a three-run inside-the-park home run courtesy of Mason, and run-scoring singles by Oshinsky and Collin Nunan.

Like the two runs in the first inning, six of the runs in the second came with two out.

Keister, who pitched the first three innings, was the main beneficiary.

“That was good,” he said. “Getting those runs was great.”

Mason, who finished 2-for-2 with a walk, added a two-run hit in the third for his fourth and fifth RBI and a 14-2 lead.

“It felt good to help my team and get us some runs,” he said. “I was looking to smack the ball around. It was amazing that we scored so many runs.”

The last runs came in a four-run fourth. Nunan, Colton Farquhar and Quinn McCoy each singled across a run before Carlotto delivered an RBI grounds rule double.

The Outlaws got five runs back in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by a two-run double from Carter Chase.