Zachary Cook-Rosario leads off first for FBT Ghost 13U Red as Alex Delgaudio guards base for Energy Baseball 13U Fuel.

By Sean Reilly 

When Mason Martinez hit a ball to the gap in right-center field on Friday night at Diamond Nation, he saw an opportunity to turn the play into something special.

“I pretty quickly started thinking of going for it,” said the second baseman for FBT Ghost 13U Red. 

His hustle out of the box and between first and second base resulted in him turning the hit into a three-run inside-the-park home run that typified his team’s 12-2 victory over Energy Baseball 13U Fuel at the 13U Battle at the Turf in Flemington. 

Hustle is always a good thing, but especially in a situation like that one, considering almost all off-season training takes place in a batting cage. Base-running often gets forgotten in the process. 

It was also that kind of night for the team from Fairfield, which was opening its 2025 season with a doubleheader at ‘The Nation.’ 

Its first game was a 9-0 win over NJ Pride Donuts 13U, a contest in which Martinez was 1-for-2 with a triple. 

The four-inning win over Energy Baseball, from Worcester, Mass., enabled FBT Ghost 13U Red to clinch a first-place finish in Pool, and the accompanying berth in the Sunday playoffs. 

“This was a good way to start,” Martinez said. “I did a lot of training and worked hard during the winter. I’m working on taking the ball more to all parts of the field.”

After the shutout in the first game, FBT starter Thomas Morgan pitched a clean top of the first before the offense generated six runs in the bottom of the frame. 

Anthony Minyetty and Jake Bader started the uprising with walks, before Zachary Cook-Rosario hit a run-scoring single. Nico Contreras added an RBI single, and Justin Mahoney hit a run-scoring ground out to shortstop. 

Martinez was up next, and he cracked an RBI double to right-center for a 4-0 lead. The other two runs crossed on wild pitches. 

Energy Baseball got an RBI double from Gavin Partridge in the second inning and an RBI groundout from Liam Condon to claw within 6-2 in the third. 

FBT countered with three runs in the bottom of the third, with Cook-Rosario leading off with an infield single on a pop that landed in the infield, Mahoney singling with one out and Martinez following with his home run. 

The final three runs scored in the fourth, as FBT ended the game via the 10-run mercy rule.