RCBC first baseman Anthony Laino completes a 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning.
By Rich Bevensee
Steven Largo arrived at the ballpark locked into his hitting approach, just like he has all season.
On the second pitch he saw on Saturday morning, a low and inside offering on a 1-0 count, Largo stroked it over the left field fence for a two-run homer to start a 3-for-3 performance.
“I’ve been hitting pretty well this year,” said Largo, who is batting .542 through his first 10 games this spring. “In the cages today I came in with the mentality to take it to right center, but I adjusted to a ball low and in and I got it. That felt good.”
Largo’s big day at the plate – he also drove in three runs and scored three times – fueled the sixth double-digit output of the season for the Richmond County Baseball Club Ghost 12U Nationals, a 13-3 pool play winner over Hustle Baseball in the April Fools Tournament at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
RCBC (9-1) was playing the Vernon Cyclones (1-0) at the time of this writing. Quarterfinals for the 12U bracket began Sunday at 8 a.m., the semifinals are at 10 a.m. and the final is slated for 12:15 p.m.
Another huge RCBC effort came from right-hander A.J. Eugenio, who scattered six hits and one walk over a five-inning, complete game effort, while allowing one earned run.
“He focuses,” RCBC coach Nick DeFendis said. “He got behind in some counts and he came back and locked in. He’s a good little ballplayer.”
Eugenio, using a two-seam fastball, changeup and curveball, allowed just one earned run, surrendered in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Logan DiGirolamo.
“I felt really good warming up today,” Eugenio said. “My offspeed was working and moving a lot and my fastball felt good. My changeup was working the best because it was dropping and moving.”
The game was tied at 2-2 when Ghost National broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth, sending 12 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs on four hits and four walks and two errors.
And guess who was in the middle of that rally? Yep, it was Largo, who stroked an RBI single up the middle after Anthony Laino scored on an outfield error to give Ghost a 4-2 lead.
Greg Rup of RCBC sends ball to deep center in Ghost Nationals’ 13-3 win.
Largo stole second and third and scored on an infield error. Ben Goldberg cranked a two-run double, Rocco Midolo scored on a wild pitch and Mason Garland added an RBI single to give RCBC a 9-2 lead.
Largo finished with another base hit and soon scored on a wild pitch in the fifth. Eugenio ended the game via the mercy rule with a bases loaded double.
“All season I’ve been thinking, ‘Short to, long through,’ and try to drive the ball,” Longo said. “My dad (Anthony Longo) always helps me out with my swing. This winter I worked on staying inside the ball. It’s not easy because you always want to go get the ball. I’m trying to stay back, stay inside the ball and drive the ball the other way.”
It seems RCBC is clicking offensively and defensively right out of the gate this season. The ballclub has given up just 20 runs in 10 games and is averaging 11 runs per game.
“Everyone has been working hard and staying together,” Longo said. “I feel like we’re like a family.”
“They come to play every single day,” DeFendis said. “Some days we have to drag them and some days they have to drag us along. Today they had some energy. 13 runs? Not too bad in five innings.”
For Hustle, Ansh Jariwala went 2-for-2 with a double, and DiGirolamo and Caleb Kim each had an RBI single.