By Rich Bevensee

It was hard to tell which pitcher had the coolest hand as the championship game inched toward a dramatic conclusion. 

James Burger of Hudson Valley Select and Alex Croce of Grit North stared pressure in the eye every time they faced it. Close game, late innings, dugouts chirping at them. It took every ounce of their composure to maintain order.

But Burger had a secret weapon which would allow Hudson Valley to gain the upper hand. Catcher Meyer Baker, who hit .800 for the weekend, could tell the pressure and the chirping were getting to Burger and his teammates in the seventh inning, so he jogged to the mound to call a meeting. 

It turned out that the biggest weapon of the team’s best hitter was not his bat, but his head. Burger and Hudson Valley settled down, got the final outs and cemented a 3-0 victory and the 15U championship in the Memorial Day Classic Powered by Savo Schalk on Monday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington.

Baker, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the final and also picked a runner off first base, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“Gotta love Meyer – the kid is pure leadership,” Hudson Valley coach Mike Discher said. “He saw some of the guys losing it in the seventh inning, called time out, got them all together, settled them down and got the last out, that’s why he’s the MVP.”

Remarkably, Hudson Valley rolled through five Diamond Nation games unbeaten and surrendered just six runs in its spring tournament debut, outscoring the opposition 39-6.  

“The championship sets the bar high but we’re going to keep this going,” said Baker, a sophomore at Marlboro High in New York. “It’s well deserved. We’ve been working all winter, we have a good team, and we’re going to keep going all summer.”

Pitching was stellar on both sides of the rubber, but the combined effort of Hudson Valley’s Alex Lutomski and Burger were just a bit better than Croce. 

Lutomski pitched three scoreless innings before exiting with an injury to his pitching hand, an injury sustained during high school ball earlier this spring. He allowed three hits and two walks and struck out two. 

Burger said he knew he would pitch in relief at some point, but  entering in the fourth inning was a little sooner than expected. 

“I was super pumped. Coach told me I was going to throw so I was ready,” Burger said. 

Burger entered with a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the third Zach Hampton reached on an outfield error and scored on a fielder’s choice, crossing home when a throw home was late and wide. 

Burger escaped the fourth despite runners on second and third with two out. He allowed a single runner to reach in the fifth and sixth innings without any damage, but the seventh was his biggest hurdle.

A walk to leadoff man Troy Fontana and a two-out walk to Cole Deronda brought Gavin Foley to the plate representing the tying run. The volume in the Grit dugout exploded. 

“I know I have a pretty good defense behind me but it’s pretty hard to concentrate with all the chirping,” said Burger, a sophomore at Arlington High in Freedom Plains, N.Y. “I was nervous but I was super pumped up and I knew I had it in me. I tried to keep my emotions in check and focus on each pitch.”

Burger struck out Foley looking – his third of the inning – and the title belonged to Hudson Valley. Burger worked four scoreless innings and allowed three hits, two walks and a hit batsman, and struck out five. 

“Burger’s best attribute is his mental toughness,” Discher said. “The fact that he could come in and stay focused was tremendous, in spite of the fact that they were saying some nasty things about his family. He almost lost it in the sixth inning but he reeled himself in. I told him I need six outs. 

“This is a guy who just started pitching last year. High schools weren’t sure if he was a pitcher. Well, he’s a pitcher. That’s why I took him.”

Croce, whose fastball velocity (low 80s) and location was consistent throughout the game, went the distance for Grit, which finished 2-2-1 on the weekend. Croce allowed three runs on five hits and two walks and he struck out 10. 

“My arm felt good. I felt from the start this was my game,” said Croce, who also challenged hitters with his curveball, changeup and slider.

Hudson Valley Select’s Meyer Baker was named 15U Memorial Day Classic MVP.

The fifth inning is when Hudson Valley found the smallest chink in Croce’s armor. 

Jaxon Sarinsky led off with a single and Justin Discher reached on a one-out walk. Baker, Hudson Valley’s leadoff hitter, dropped a two-strike pitch into shallow right to drive in Sarinsky from second with a huge insurance run. Liam Keller immediately followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Discher for a 3-0 lead.

Croce’s final pitches? He struck out the side in order in the sixth, flashing the same velocity he did in the first inning. Croce is a freshman at Pine Bush High in New York. 

Grit coach Joe Croce said one of his son’s biggest attributes this season is that he has learned to keep his head in mentally challenging situations. Something that was not the case last spring.

“I am a lot better now,” Croce said, who battled just as much noise from the Hudson Valley dugout as Lutomski and Burger heard from the Grit bench. “Even when I’m freaking out, I’m thinking about the next batter. My game is much better because of my mental approach.” 

Discher was asked if his Hudson Valley club will find it difficult to raise the bar after opening the season with a championship.

“It’s not unfair to ask – the bar needs to be moved up because they need to do better,” Discher said. “Yes, they won a championship but we had a lot of weak moments that we have to work on. Emotional more than anything, They’ll get there, it’s a maturity thing.”