By Rich Bevensee
Julian Park is at least a head taller than anyone on his Flores Baseball 10U Braves Red team, and there’s a good chance he’ll have a size advantage over most opposing players he will see this spring.
Heck, the kid wears size 12 shoes, which is on average two sizes bigger than any adult male watching him play.
When Park takes the mound, his wingspan and velocity are so overwhelming that it must appear to any 10-year old as though he could stride and drop the baseball into the catcher’s mitt. So imagine what it looked like to the players from Maine Lightning Elite, half of whom appeared very cautious in the batter’s box.
So it went for the Braves, who battled through three games before Park took center stage for the championship game and dominated the scene. He struck out half of the players he faced over 4⅔ innings and carried the Braves to an 8-0 victory in the final of the 10U Easter Extravaganza on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Braves coach and program director A.J. Flores, whose 10U team was making its season debut, gave the tournament MVP award to Hunter Hoagland for hitting .667 and for his outstanding defensive work. Flores soon thereafter named Park a co-MVP and awarded him the tournament banner which goes to every winning team.
“Julian’s one of the biggest 10-year olds we ever had,” Flores said. “We always talk about his slow motion and then the ball shoots out of his hand, like he’s handing it to the catcher. It gets on the batter really quick. It’s a heavy fastball.”
Park finished with nine strikeouts before handing off to Austin Sarno who recorded the final out in the top of the fifth. Park pitched a three-hitter and allowed one walk.
“I was very nervous because it’s the first tournament of the year and you don’t want to mess up,” Park said. “I think I did really good today. I wasn’t expecting myself to do that. I haven’t pitched in a while. But I got warm and I started to not be nervous.”
At the plate Park batted .545 with seven RBI for the weekend. In the final he went 2-for-3 with an RBI triple.
The team’s leading hitter was Hoagland who batted .667 with a double, four RBI and five runs scored. In the championship game Hoagland went 2-for-2 with an RBI double and made a highlight-worthy catch in left field in the third inning.
“He was hitting line drives all over,” Flores said. “He got a couple bunts down, his baserunning was unreal, and he made a nice diving catch in left field. He was fantastic all weekend.”
“I worked with my dad a lot on my hitting,” Hoagland said. “He always throws inside so I can work through the ball and sometimes outside so I can hit it oppo. It helped a lot.”
Hunter Hoagland of the FB Braves 10U was named the 10U Easter Extravaganza MVP.
With his team clinging to a 2-0 lead against the visitors from Portland, Maine, Hoagland sparked a five-run rally in the fourth which gave Park the breathing room he needed.
With a runner on base and two out, Hoagland hit an opposite-field, RBI double to right. Luke Maurer slashed an RBI single down the left field line, Connor Cox smacked an opposite-field, two-run double to left, and Blaise Welsh added an RBI single for a 7-0 lead.
The Braves tacked on their final run in the fifth when Park, Max Jakulevicius and Sarnop opened with back-to-back-to-back singles. Christian Savidge then dropped a blooper behind second base, driving in Park with the game-ending run.
All told, the Braves looked this weekend as though they were in midseason form, cranking out 48 runs in four games while allowing only seven.
Another Brave with multiple hits in the final was Jakulevicius who went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Flores was pleasantly surprised with the team’s defense, considering the small amount of time the staff had to work with the players on a diamond due to poor weather conditions before this weekend. The Braves committed just three errors in four games, a number truly impressive at the 10U level.
“I was most impressed with our defense because it’s been so tough to get outside,” Flores said. “They made almost every single play. Pitchers threw strikes and batters came out like they haven’t had any time off.”
Lars Einseidler went 2-for-2 with a double for the Lightning and Moses Lee had a base hit.