Kane Sherlock scores on wild pitch for RCBC Ghost Nationals 11U in Williams Harley Davidson opener. 

By Sean Reilly

A.J. Laino was very happy to go home from Diamond Nation with a first-place medal after his Richmond County Baseball Ghost 11U Nationals won the King of the Diamond tournament championship last month. 

Laino’s only issue was that he wished he had contributed just a little more to the collective RCBC effort. 

In truth, Laino was being hard on himself. He did plenty during the Staten Island team’s four-game sweep to the title.

Still, he was determined to do even more as RCBC returned to ‘The Nation’ on Saturday afternoon to open play at the 11U Williams Harley Davidson tournament. 

His first-game results: a 3-for-3 performance, with three runs and six RBI, in a 16-4 triumph over the North Jersey Diamondbacks 11U Prime. 

The capper to his impressive display was a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to account for the final scoring. 

“That was the best game I’ve had so far this season,” he said. “We won the other tournament, but I don’t think I hit that great.” 

RCBC showed off some impressive traits in gaining the four-inning mercy rule decision over the Diamondbacks.

Most notably, it did two sets of small things that led to big results in the first two innings. 

After RCBC pitcher A.J. Eugenio got a third-out strikeout with a runner on third in the top of first, RCBC scored four times in the bottom of the inning.

The leadoff man was retired on a full-count ground out, and the next two batters – Mason Garland and Kane Sherlock – also worked the count full before drawing walks. 

A wild pitch advanced them to second and third, and Garland scored on a wild pitch with Greg Rup at the plate. Rup also had a disciplined at-bat by walking on a full count.

Mason Garland sprints to third base before scoring the first of four opening-inning runs for RCBC. 

Laino was up next, and hit an RBI single to left field. He later scored on a wild pitch. 

The Diamondbacks scored all four of their runs in the top of the second. Jack David hit an RBI double to center with one out, Robert Wanat followed with an RBI groundout to third, Nicholas Harraka smacked an RBI double to center and Tyler Barrett reached on an error that scored Harraka for a 4-4 tie. 

RCBC again used basic fundamentals to set up an eight-run second inning. 

After Joey Rainero led off with a walk and stole second, right-side hitting batter Vin DeFranco made contact toward second base to advance the runner. As a bonus, he beat the throw to first, and an error at the end of the play scored Rainero for a 5-4 score. 

DeFranco stole two bases before Eugenio walked. With the trailing runner in motion, Garland hit a perfectly placed ground ball past the vacated space between first and second for an RBI single. 

Wild pitches and errors brought in two more runs before Laino hit a two-run single past third for a 10-4 score. 

Charlie Fernandez added an RBI double and Joey Rainero reached on a run-scoring error for the 12-4 lead. 

The other runs came in the third. Garland doubled to center with one out, Sherlock followed with an RBI single to center, and Rup walked. 

Laino was up next, and hit a ball off the top of the fence in center field. It was initially ruled in play for a long single, but the umpires conferred and changed it to a three-run home run. 

“I didn’t think it was gone at first, but then they said it was over the yellow line,” he said. “I was a little confused, but then I said ‘Okay, I’ll take it.” 

Eugenio pitched all four innings for the win. He allowed five hits, with two strikeouts and two walks.