Lachlan Hill follows through on RBI single for Clubhouse 2028 DeMarini.
By Sean Reilly
James Evarts was the pitcher for Clubhouse 2028 DeMarini on Saturday morning at Diamond Nation.
He ended his outing early, and in ideal fashion.
Evarts delivered an RBI double to left-center field with two out in the bottom of the fifth inning which invoked the mercy rule, as his team gained a 9-1 victory over Complete Performance Baseball Academy 15U at the 15U Fall Fury, Powered by Cortes & Hay, in Flemington.
Evarts, a right-hander, allowed three hits in his abbreviated complete game, with five strikeouts and one walk.
“I feel like I had a really good game,” he said. “I filled up the zone, really worked on placing my pitches and had a really nice time walking it off.”
One of the hits Evarts allowed was a triple to right field by Matthew Altomare with one out in the top of the first. But he struck out the next two batters to set a tone for the remainder of the game.
Clubhouse took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Zach Bohm showcased his speed by hitting a leadoff inside-the-park home run to center field.
Bohm’s legs were again a factor in his next at-bat, as he led off the third with a triple to right field. Lachlan Hill was up next, and he supplied an RBI single to center for a 2-0 lead.
Clubhouse added three more runs in that inning. Maddox Monterisi walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Dalton Valiquette singled to right field. Valiquette scored as Julian Dyson reached on a strike three wild pitch.
Dyson stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before Martin Cano was hit by a pitch. A successful double steal scored Dyson for a 5-0 score.
Complete Performance scored in the fifth inning, which began with singles by Antonio Paladino and Matt Pepe. John Machtemes then hit a sacrifice fly to center.
Clubhouse scored four times in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
Complete Performance third baseman Matt Pepe tags out runner trying to steal third.
Valiquette (2-for-3) hit a one-out single to center. With the runner in motion, Dyson singled through vacated space on the right side and into right field.
Valiquette wound up on third, and he scored on another successful double steal. Cano singled, and ended on third after an error on the play brought in Dyson. Luke Spotta followed with a RBI double left.
After the second out of the inning, Evarts ended the game with his double.
“I got that pitch middle-middle, and said ‘Let’s crush it,’”
The win for Clubhouse came in its first game of the fall season, after a two-week break.
“I’m looking to have a good ERA and really focus on my mechanics for hitting wise,” Evarts said.
The performance on Saturday was an excellent launch for it all.
“We all had fun, the defense was working it up and it really ended well,” Evarts said. “My slider was going well, and the change-up was going well to lefties, with placement to bottom left and bottom right.”