By Sean Reilly
Something extremely rare was on the verge of happening on Sunday evening at Diamond Nation.
The Diamond Jacks Super 14U were about to lose a game.
The powerhouse outfit, which carried a season record of 52-3-1, was down two runs with two out in the top of the seventh inning in the championship of the 14U Gold Division of the Beat The Heat Tournament.
Held to no runs and two hits at that point against a very tough opponent, Sports Zone Academy 14U UA from Syracuse, N.Y., the DJacks were one out away from being shut out for the first time since March.
“The first six innings were rough,” said Drew Gable, the third batter in the DJacks lineup. “They were really good and we didn’t have any energy in the dugout.”
What followed was as improbable as anything the team had experienced all year.
With Sports Zone hoping to get one last out from highly-effective starter Nick Cimino, the DJacks instead got a four-pitch walk to No. 2 batter Nick Stangota. Gable was up next, and he also walked on four pitches.
After that, a pitching change was made. The DJacks were down to their last strike when Jordan Vesey lined a 2-2 offering to center for a single which loaded the bases.
Remington Mortman followed, and had a 3-1 count before hitting a grounder toward first base that seemed destined to end the game.
Instead, the ball slipped through the fielder’s legs and into right field for an error that scored two runs for a 2-2 tie and also left runners on first and third.
Given brand new life, three more hits and three additional runs followed. It all added up to a 5-2 victory in Flemington, after Gable – who took over the pitching chores with two out in the fifth -worked out of a two out, bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the seventh.
After the error which tied the game, the big hit for the DJacks was a two-run double to right field by Ryan Jezorwski that scored Vesey and a hustling Mortman for a 4-2 lead. Greyson Letang followed with a line drive single to right field to score Jezorwski with the fifth run.
Drew Gable (left) and Ryan Jezorwski were named co-MVPs of the Beat The Heat tournament.
“I was just trying to drive the ball, and I was able to execute it,” said Jezorwski, who was selected co-MVP of the tournament along with Gable. “I was trying not to feel any pressure. We could have scored more in the early innings, but their pitcher was really good.”
Sports Zone came into the game with a 26-2-1 season record, including three wins in three prior games over the weekend at ‘The Nation.’
The bulk of the game was a pitcher’s duel between the starters – Cimino from the Sports Zone and Bryson Auten for the Diamond Jacks.
The Diamond Jacks managed only four baserunners (two hits, two walks) against Cimino until the consecutive walks to Stangota and Gable that prompted his exit with two out in the seventh. The left-hander also had three strikeouts.
On the opposite side, Auten’s final line was two runs and three hits allowed, with six strikeouts and five walks, over 4⅔ innings.
Auten worked out of several tough situations – a called third strike for the third out with a runner on second in the first, a strike out and grounder to first to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second, and a foul pop-out to first and called third strike to escape a runner-on-third spot in the fourth.
The Sports Zone broke through with a two-run bottom of the fifth.
Ian Fuller led off with a walk, and moved to second on a ground out. Julian Torrillo hit a single to shortstop. Fuller, who initially held up, moved to third after an error on the play. That was an important development, since Torrillo was able to steal second and place two men into scoring position.
The next batter struck out, but with Harry Doran at bat, two wild pitches brought in both runners to give the Sports Zone the two-run lead which almost held until the finish.
Nick Cimino allowed two hits and no earned runs over 6⅔ innings for Sports Zone Academy.
The Sports Zone tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh.
Fuller led off with a double to center, and Cimino singled to center, with Fuller holding at third. Gable then got a foul pop to first and called third strike before Doran walked to load the bases.
With the No. 3 batter at the plate, Gable had a 1-2 count in his favor before a grounder to third baseman Victor Burgos resulted in a throw to first baseman Henry Kusant for the final out.
“Scoring the five runs took some of the pressure off of my shoulders,” Gable said. “After the first two hits, I started feeling some, but overall I felt relaxed and not that anxious. I was just throwing fastballs. I threw one changeup and slider, but other than that it was all fastballs.”
When it was over, the DJacks were able to feel extremely happy to prevail in a tightly-contested game after winning their two prior tournament games in lopsided fashion.
“Those guys were really good,” Gable said. “It felt great to come back against them. All our guys came together at the end and we played as a team. That’s all that matters.”
“Props to the other team for putting up a good fight,” Jezorwski said. “We executed in that last inning, and it was great to come back. A win like this one is more exciting and more hyped.”