Kam Fiorani hammered an RBI double in the Heavy Hitters’ seven-run fourth inning.
By Rich Bevensee
Harry Rodriguez isn’t exactly teaching the art of theft to his ballplayers, but he sure is encouraging it – between the foul lines, of course.
In the midst of a game-changing, seven-run rally in the fourth inning, Rodriguez’ Heavy Hitters 4 2027 club stole nine bases. And that’s not even counting the number of bags the Heavy Hitters took on wild pitches and passed balls.
“I’m very aggressive coaching third and my guys know anything more than 2.2 pop, we’re running,” Rodriguez said. “Anything slow to the plate even with a good pop, we’re running. We’ve always coached that way and it’s what I’ve instilled in these guys – aggressive in the box, aggressive around the bases.”
The thievery was much more than Obsessed Baseball could handle, as the Heavy Hitters won their 12th straight after an 11-1, five-inning triumph in the 15U Garden State Invitational Powered by Victus on Wednesday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
The Heavy Hitters (3-0), who hail from South Jersey, will aim for an undefeated week of baseball when they face PRD Pride 2027 on Thursday.
Obsessed, based in Monmouth County, fell to 0-3 and will face the New Jersey Nationals on Thursday.
Peyton Andrie, a rising sophomore at St. Augustine Prep in Atlantic County’s Richland, N.J., authored one of his finest outings of the summer – a three-hitter with no walks and six strikeouts for the Heavy Hitters.
“I’m not overpowering,” said Andrie, who employs a four-seam fastball, curveball and slider. “I’m trying to get weak contact. Weak ground balls, weak fly balls.”
Chase Mahala swipes home plate for the Heavy Hitters 15U.
Andrie didn’t get off to a good start. After retiring the first two batters he faced, Braden Cox took him deep to left for a solo home run and a 1-0 Obsessed lead.
“I was very mad about that. I left it right down the middle,” Andrie said. “After that I just had to keep pounding the zone – throw strikes and get my offspeed working. I stayed my normal self and kept hitting my spots.”
Indeed. Andrie allowed a single to the next batter, Aiden McCarthy, and a second-inning double to Mike Yorke. After Yorke, Andrie retired the last 11 batters he faced.
Andrie said he feels like he’s on a roll now. Before Wednesday, he was coming off what he labeled his best performance of the summer when he struck out nine over six innings in his outing at MSI Sports Complex in Aston, Pa., when the team won an age group title.
“What I like most about Peyton is he’s competitive,” Rodriguez said. “I know what I’m going to get out of him each and every day. This was his fifth day and it was his turn to get the ball.”
The Heavy Hitters were quick to back their pitcher, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second. Travis Snodgrass scored on a double steal (with J.D. Rivera stalling just long enough while taking second), and Rivera came around to score in the same manner while Jamar Whitley was stealing second for a 2-1 Heavy Hitters lead.
In the fourth, the Heavy Hitters sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on four hits, four walks and a hit batsman.
Kam Fiorani doubled home a run for a 3-1 lead. J.D. Rivera blooped a single to shallow right which drove in two runs, and later scored on a wild pitch for a 6-1 lead.
Whitley then scored on a balk, and both Jon Rossi and Chase Mahala scored on a single wild pitch for a 9-1 cushion.
The Heavy Hitters tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Pinch-hitter Walker Batavio drove in one with a fielder’s choice, and J.D. Rivera scored for the second time on a wild pitch.
For Obsessed, Brennan McCann pitched 3⅓ innings, Julian Schwarz threw two-thirds of an inning in relief, and Aiden McCarthy handled the final inning of work.
Rodriguez said the Heavy Hitters have been playing inspired baseball after the players handled themselves well in a couple of extremely challenging tournaments which could have turned the club in the wrong direction. They played up an age group at the Nation’s Super 16 Invitational in early June and went 2-1. Then they played .500 baseball on the road trip to the LakePoint Sports complex in Emerson, Georgia.
The Heavy Hitters used those tournaments as confidence boosters for their performance last week at MSI.
“The chemistry is starting to click,” Rodriguez said. “We’re staying together, we’ve been playing baseball every day since Friday and now it’s Wednesday. We’re firing on all cylinders right now.”