By Sean Reilly
Joshua Brown could tell early on in his first outing of the season that it was likely to be a good one.
Brown had the start for the Jersey Devils 14U Pando on Sunday afternoon against the FB Braves 2030s in the semifinal round of the King of the Diamond 14U Silver tournament at Diamond Nation.
He gave up a walk and infield single in an otherwise stress-free top of the first inning, in which he threw first-pitch strikes to four of the five batters.
In the second, he pitched the first of three 1-2-3 innings that sent his team to a 9-1, six-inning victory in Flemington.
That triumph sent the Westampton-based Jersey Devils into the championship immediately after, and the momentum continued with a 6-5 triumph over the Sugar Kings 14U for the title.
Adam Tantum makes contact on sacrifice for the Jersey Devils-Pando.
Brown wound up with a five-inning line of three hits and no earned runs, with nine strikeouts and the one walk to the second batter of the game. He totaled 73 pitches, 49 of them for strikes.
“I was able to locate my fastball,” he said. “I could tell in the second inning.”
Having command, and getting ahead in counts, allowed Brown to go to other pitches when needed, most notably a change-up.
The FB Braves scored their run in the top of third. Jackson Scheeler reached on a two-base throwing error with one out, Mike DeLorenzo singled him to third and Andrew Nazare followed with an RBI single to left. Those were the last hits allowed by Brown, who also began a streak of six-straight strikeouts with the final out of the inning.
The Jersey Devils claimed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the frame. Jace Hernandez singled to center with one out, and Gabe Correa followed with an RBI triple to right. Devin Pula then supplied an RBI ground out to shortstop.
A four-run fourth inning gave the Jersey Devils a 6-1 advantage. Brown led off with a walk, and Matt Byers and Brandon Testa both hit singles to right to load the bases with nobody out. Adam Tantum then hit a sacrifice fly to right, and with the lineup flipped to the top, Matteo Pandolfini hit a two-run triple to left-center. Hernandez (2-for-3, walk) followed with an RBI single to right.
Jackson Scheeler of FB Braves 2030s reaches safely on error that almost maimed our reporter!
The lead was extended to 7-1 when pinch-hitter Carter Robinson drove in Daniel Arroyo with a two-out RBI single to right.
The Jersey Devils ended the game via the eight-run mercy rule in the sixth inning. Pandolfini scored from third on an unsuccessful double steal try. Correa then walked, advanced to third on two passed balls, and scored on an RBI single to center by Pula.
In the championship contest, the Jersey Devils scored a run in the bottom of the sixth and final inning to break a 5-5 tie against the Sugar Kings.
The first three batters were hit by pitches, and Pandolfini dropped down a bunt to deliver the game-winner.