Austin Sterling cracked a home run on the first pitch of the game for the Outlaws.

By Rich Bevensee

The ballplayers from Northern Burlington County 12U are facing a serious challenge in its next tournament. In fact, it’s the biggest challenge any NBC team has ever faced. 

Which is why NBC made the trip to Diamond Nation in Flemington this weekend, to be tested before embarking on the biggest road trip of their lives. 

Thanks to long ball hitting by Joey Cannizzaro, J.J. Lacey and Vincenzo Schiano, NBC began its visit to ‘The Nation’ by making the most of this tuneup. NBC came back from four- and five-run deficits to squeeze out an 8-7 pool play victory over the Outlaws of Westchester County, N.Y., in the Boys of Summer Tournament on Saturday. 

“If we’re down we always have a lot of energy to come back and either tie the game or win it,” said Chase Rogers, a hard throwing righty who closed the game by pitching two scoreless innings in relief.

“We like to teach them short term memory,” NBC coach Ken Saganowski said. “We tell them we want to win every inning. If we teach that mentality and they keep that short term mentality, it can go a long way.”

Vincenzo Schiano (4) is greeted by teammates after hitting a game-tying, two-run homer in the fourth inning for Northern Burlington County.

NBC (2-0), which has one pool game remaining against Marucci Prospects N.Y. Gold is preparing for a trip no other team from the organization has taken. 

After leaving ‘The Nation,’ NBC will prepare for its journey to Branson, Missouri, for the Cal Ripken Major/70 World Series. The tournament is held at Ballparks of America Aug. 6-17. 

“And that’s why we’re here at Diamond Nation,” assistant coach Sam Cannizzaro said. “To get them ready.”

The Outlaws, who received a leadoff homer from Austin Sterling on the first pitch of the game, fell to 1-1 in pool play and will face Sports Zone Black on Sunday. 

NBC trailed 5-1 when Cannizzaro crushed a pitch over the center field fence for a solo homer in the bottom of the third inning.

The Outlaws tacked on two more runs in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead before NBC showed just how much firepower it has, sending nine batters to the plate and scoring six runs in the bottom of the frame. 

After Rogers scored on an infield error to start the scoring, Lacey jacked a two-run homer to bring NBC within 7-5.

Three batters later, Schiano came up and rocked his fourth homer of the season, an impressive two-run shot to left which tied the game at 7-7.

“That felt awesome,” Schiano said. “It’s so exciting, the best feeling ever. We came back and now all of us are hyped up.”

Three batters after Schiano’s bomb, NBC took its first lead of the game when Henry Beloncik scored on a fly ball error off the bat of Cannizzaro. 

“Our mood was down when we were losing, but our coach told us to get up,” Rogers said. “We got up and came back and we just got on fire.”

From left, Joey Cannizzaro, J.J. Lacey and Vincenzo Schiano each hit home runs to propel Northern Burlington County in the Boys of Summer tournament.

“We weren’t locked in but once we started getting on the bases we got locked in and we were like, let’s do this,” Schiano said. 

Rogers entered in relief to start the fifth and pitched two spotless innings, facing the minimum and striking out five.

“I’m thinking I’m better than everybody. Strike them out and get the game over with,” Rogers said. “I wasn’t nervous. I know I’m better than all those kids. I just had to go out there and perform.”

The Outlaws claimed the lead from the outset with Sterling’s solo homer to start the game. NBC tied it in the bottom of the first when Rogers doubled and scored on a Logan Saganowski sacrifice fly.

The Outlaws built a 5-1 lead in the third with four runs on five hits and two errors. Joe Mayes had an RBI single and Nick Stazzone also scored on the play on an outfield error. J.J. Cerutti slotted an RBI single to right, eventually stole third and scored on the resulting throwing error. 

After Cannizzaro’s homer cut the Outlaws’ lead to 5-2, the Outlaws added two more runs when Zander Cohen and Stazzone each had an RBI single.