Garrett Weir makes contact for the FB Braves 12U Red during Ripken Regional Qualifier.
By Sean Reilly
Julius Donado and his Flores Baseball Braves 12U Red teammates are used to playing — and winning — in tournament action at Diamond Nation.
While a core belief within the FB Braves program is to never take any game lightly, there’s no denying that this weekend’s visit to ‘The Nation’ means more, since they are taking part in the first-ever Ripken Nationals Qualifier at the complex.
The FB Braves are among 20 teams participating in the Ripken qualifier, with the winner on Sunday earning a free trip to Cooperstown’s All-Star Village to compete in the Ripken National Championship.
The Diamond Nation tournament winner will be one of 20 automatic qualifiers from around the country to compete for the national title June 29-July 4, with the championship game being broadcast nationally by CBS at 7 p.m. on the Fourth of July.
The competitors this weekend at Diamond Nation are divided into five four-team pools, with the first-place finishers in each advancing into the championship bracket playoffs on Sunday.
The FB Braves took care of that first order of business by following a victory on Friday night with a two-game Saturday sweep to clinch a first-place finish in Pool A with a 3-0 record.
Joey Lazzaro pitched four hitless innings when the FB Braves beat the Bergen Crush on Saturday.
“It definitely means a little extra,” said Donado, who was 4-for-8 in the pool games, including a 2-for-2 showing in the Saturday opener, a 5-1 victory over the Bergen Crush Orange 12U. The Crush finished 2-1 in pool play, so the triumph wound up determining the Pool A winner.
“Lots of teams are coming after us from all over, and not just the tri-state area,” said Donado, in taking note of the Ripken qualifier competition. “It means a lot to us, and it would be very nice to go to Cooperstown.”
After opening with a 16-2 win over the Diamond Jacks Gold 12U on Friday night, in which the Braves swatted five home runs among 17 hits, the matchup against the Crush figured to be much tighter, and it was.
Still, the Braves were in control after Joey Lazzaro pitched a 1-2-3 top of first, before a three-run bottom of the inning.
Nick Vanjonack, who went 5-for-7 in the three games, led off for the Braves with a walk and stole second before advancing to third on Carter Fusco’s single to shortstop.
Will Hoffman followed with a fly ball that dropped in shallow center field. Fusco was forced out at second base, but Vanjonack scored the first run.
Mason Rincon was up next, and hit a double to left field that scored Hoffman. Manoli Vasilakis followed that with an RBI single to center for a 3-0 lead.
The Crush put runners on second and third with two out in the second, but Lazzaro got a called third strike on a full count to end the inning.
The Braves extended the lead to 4-0 in the second. Donado hit a hard single to right with one out and a 1-2 count, and then moved to second on a passed ball with Chase Redgate at the plate. Redgate then came through with an RBI single to center.
Nick Vanjonack of the FB Braves advances from second to third on Carter Fusco’s single.
Lazzaro wound up throwing four hitless innings, allowing one run, with three strikeouts and four walks.
That Crush run came in the third inning. Oliver Arnell led off with a full count walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third before Joshua Brown walked. That flipped the lineup to the top, and John Stevens hit a grounder to short which forced out Brown while allowing Arnell to score.
The Braves scored their final run in the fifth, and Donado was once again the catalyst. He hit a one-out single to the gap in right-center with a full count. After advancing to second on a ground out, he stole third and came home on a throwing error with Garrett Weir at the plate.
Vanjonack pitched the final two innings for the Braves, allowing three hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
Although the Braves were held homerless against the Crush, they returned to their long ball-hitting ways in the pool finale, a 17-2 win over Performance Baseball White 12U. Of the Braves 16 hits in the game, seven of them were home runs, including two apiece by Israel Tavarez and Rincon.
Aside from Donado and Vanjonack, other top hitters for the Braves in the three pool games included Rincon (7-for-8), Vasilakis (6-for-8), Fusco (5-for-7) and Hoffman (5-for-8).
“We definitely came out and executed,” Donado said. “It’s nice when you have a team like ours that can do a bit of everything, from hitting to pitching and fielding, and also the little parts of the game.”