By Rich Bevensee
It’s no secret why baseball games have so much juice when the Diamond Jacks Super 13U team and the Diamond Jacks Gold 13U squad square off.
First, the labels mean everything. The Super name implies a deeper team and those players want to exert their authority, while the Gold team carries an underdog mentality and wants to upend the favorites.
Next, they’re all friends who train together at the Diamond Nation complex in Flemington, so they enjoy seeing each other on the field, even if it means earning bragging rights or a little good-natured teasing after the game.
Lastly, these teams are about as evenly matched as two in the program could be, so much so that the labels may not even matter.
The Super and Gold 13U teams squared off for the fifth time this year, this time for the Fall Fury 13U championship. And fittingly, the game was a nip-and-tuck affair which was decided by the final batter.
With two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Brycen Davis singled to tie the game and Brandon Brewster earned a walk to force in the winning run to give the Super squad a 5-4 victory on Sunday at ‘The Nation.’
“It’s weird,” said Garrett Garlits, the Super 13U catcher who was named MVP of the tournament. “They’re your friends, then you hate them in that two-hour moment, then you shake hands and you’re back to being friends.”
The Gold team owns a 3-2 advantage in the season series, but losing the championship game Sunday night evoked some serious frustrations on the field when the winning run crossed for the Super team. They’re all friends, but both teams want to win very badly.
“I think it’ll be sore for a day, maybe two, but if you look around at their all-around accomplishments, they did an unbelievable job this weekend,” said Gold coach Luke Crawford.
Crawford knows a thing or two about playing against friends within the Diamond Jacks system. The Hillsborough grad played from 13U through 17U before he graduated from the program in 2021.
Diamond Jacks Super 13U catcher Garrett Garlits was named the Fall Fury MVP.
“I think there’s such a high talent level at this age group,” Crawford said. “These kids are so close and they play such a good brand of baseball that they’re in every game. They always act the same.”
The Gold team took a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth on Christian Basile’s two-run single up the middle.
In the bottom of the sixth with the game clock expired, Nick Penna walked to lead off before the Gold team got two outs. Richie Adamczyk doubled to left and Penna had to hold up at third, and Nico Dufkis walked to load the bases.
On a full count, Davis stroked a strong opposite-field single to right where right fielder Ben Pasuco nearly threw him out at first. The game was tied.
“I was thinking about hitting the ball hard and that I believe in myself,” Davis said. “It felt amazing, like one of the best moments of my life.”
Brewster also reached a full count before earning a base on balls, forcing home Adamczyk with the winning run.
The Gold team set the tone for the game about how hard-nosed it would be in the bottom of the first inning, when the Supers loaded the bases with no outs. Gold pitcher Basile escaped without giving up a run by getting a strikeout looking, tagging out a runner at home trying to score on a wild pitch, and inducing a groundout.
In the bottom of the second, Luka Manfredi opened the scoring for Super 13U by crossing on a wild pitch. The Supers made it 2-0 when Dufkis stole third and scored on a throwing error.
Manfredi has been on both sides of the Super-Gold rivalry at the highest levels. In October of 2023, Manfredi pitched the Gold 12U team past the Super 12U team in the Grand Slam championship game.
Gold tied the game on Sunday at 2-2 in the top of the fourth, as C.J. Scheier scored on a wild pitch and Tino Guidicipietro drove in a run with a single to left.
Super 13U reclaimed the lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on second and third, Adamczyk struck a hard grounder up the middle. He reached on an error and Penna scored from third.