Wes Maksimow follows through on RBI single past the mound to give the Expos a 1-0 lead.
By Sean Reilly
There was nothing complicated about the way Sean Budis pitched on Friday night at Diamond Nation.
The 6-4, 195-pound left hander worked fast, pounded the zone with fastballs and racked up strikeouts as his Locked In Baseball Expos 18U 2025 team faced the Powerballers 17U in the opener for both at the 17/18U Super Fall Invitational, Powered By Victus, in Flemington.
The result for Budis was a stellar four-inning outing, allowing two hits, with 11 strikeouts and two walks, as the Expos gained a 5-0 victory.
“I always work fast,” he said. “I like to fill up the strike zone and throw a lot of fastballs,” he said. “It was kind of working today. I’d say more than 80 percent of the pitches were fastballs. I also threw some sliders, and a changeup along with a two-seam.”
In a game where his first 10 outs were on strikeouts, there was nothing mysterious about his approach. His pitches were consistently in the 81 to 84 mph range.
Boston College commit Sean Budis struck out 11 over four innings for the Expos.
“I was just rearing up the fastball and getting it by a lot of guys,” he said. “If ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Budis, a senior at Brearley High School in Kenilworth, has been a strikeout pitcher throughout his career. He’s had plenty of prior exceptional performances at ‘The Nation,’ including a seven-inning perfect game with 11 strikeouts in 2023.
He was also very strong this past spring for Brearley, where he struck out 97 in 72 innings, with 22 hits allowed and 15 walks. His ERA was 1.85.
Budis also pitched well throughout the summer for the Expos, and the reward for it all came a few weeks ago, when he verbally committed to Boston College.
“I had a great summer,” he says. “I’m going to continue to play baseball at Boston College, so that’s really cool. I’m very excited about that. It feels great to have that taken care of, especially since that was one of my top schools. It’s a dream come true.”
The Expos took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Ryan Barber, who went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly, led off with a double to the left field corner. Nick Carles followed with a bunt single to the third base side to put runners on first and third.
Wes Maksimow hit an RBI single past the pitcher, and after a walk to Nicholas Dragone, Caden Breault hit a run-scoring single to center.
Chase Biedermann, who went 2-for-3, gets a running start off first base for the Powerballers.
The Expos added another run in the third. Ryan Lavin led off with a walk, Connor Campbell singled to left field and Jack Yukniewicz was hit by a pitch. After a foul out to first base, Barber hit a sacrifice fly to right field.
The remaining runs came in the fourth inning.
Maksimow led off with a walk, and moved to second on an errant pickoff throw. Dragone was up next, and delivered an RBI triple to right field. Dragone scored as Breault grounded out to second.
Aside from Barber’s showing at the plate, Carles and Breault both went 2-for-4.
Lavin pitched the final three innings, allowing one hit with three strikeouts and two walks.
Chase Biedermann finished 2-for-3 for the Powerballers.