Jacob Jaconski of OOTP Cyclones gets locked in at the plate during Super 15 Invitational.
By Will Harrigan
One of the telltale signs of a good team is the ability to win a game without playing your best.
The Mid-Atlantic Hurricanes didn’t exactly bring the power bats with them to Flemington – not yet anyway – but they are still off to a good start at the Super 15 Invitational.
Riding the steady pitching of lefty Declan Glass and hitting just enough when it counted, The Hurricanes edged Out Of The Park Cyclones, 5-3, at Diamond Nation on Monday morning. The game was the first of four for both sides at the Super 15 Invitational.
Glass, a rising sophomore out of Plumstead Christian (PA) High School, did not surrender an earned run in a complete game effort for the Hurricanes. He successfully navigated around eight hits to keep the Central Jersey-based Cyclones at bay.
“That’s Declan’s game, what we saw today. He’s our bulldog,” said Hurricanes coach Jason Carr. “Every time he pitches, you know you’re going to be right there at worst. I was originally going to go with a relief pitcher in the last inning, but it was his game to finish.”
Falling behind 3-0 after two, Mid-Atlantic started its comeback in the top of the third with two men out.
Michael Graban ignited the offense in modest fashion by reaching base on an infield hit. But after a stolen base, second baseman Tyler Muzsi would make good on his opportunity and doubled in Graban to cut the deficit to 3-1. Muzsi had the only multi-hit game for the Hurricanes, going 2-for-3 on the day.
A batter later, Shane Myers came through with a single to center, scoring the speedy Muzsi from second and bringing the ‘Canes to within 3-2.
“We did not have a good approach at the plate today, so we kind of limited ourselves out of opportunities to score,” said Carr. “But we did just enough with the opportunities we had, and a couple of timely hits helped with that.”
Caden Schmidt and Jack Hogenauer singled and walked, respectively, in the fourth to set the table for the Hurricanes.
A fortunate bounce off home plate allowed Glass to reach base on an infield single, loading the bases. Two batters later, a wild pitch allowed Schmidt to score to tie it at 3-3.
Mid-Atlantic Hurricanes pitcher Declan Glass fires to the plate in win over OOTP Cyclones.
Two pitches later, Preston Martin singled to score Hogenauer, giving Mid-Atlantic its go-ahead run. After being hit by a pitch in the sixth, Schmidt came around to score an insurance run after a pickoff attempt wound up in the outfield.
For a while, it looked like the Cyclones – a club filled with players from Somerset and Union counties – would take advantage of a few Hurricanes miscues.
Connor Price reached base on a fielding error, and Ryan Sacchetti promptly followed that with a single to put two men in scoring position. Watchung Hills rising sophomore Jacob Jaconski then cashed in, singling to right to score both Price and Sacchetti for the game’s first runs.
Another fielding error by the Hurricanes – this one generated by Gregory Brown’s bat – scored Jaconski, giving Out Of The Park a 3-0 lead after two.
The Cyclones put runners on the corners with one out in the fifth, but what can only be described as a rough baserunning sequence followed, as Glass picked off both runners before Jaconski could finish his at bat.