Michael Milia of the Diamond Jacks Gold 14U slides safely into first on pickoff attempt as Matthew Wolski handles throw for Lower Bucks Minutemen.
By Sean Reilly
Aaron Huffman is an effective leadoff man for the Lower Bucks Minutemen 13U Navy, but his play at shortstop is equally impressive.
It’s hard for a player on the 13U level to have a clear impact on a game with multiple defensive plays, but that’s exactly what Huffman did when his team defeated the Diamond Jacks Gold 13U, 5-4, in the pool play opener for both at the Diamond Nation 13U Spring Fever tournament, Powered by Pure Rush, on Friday night in Flemington.
The Minutemen took a 5-0 lead into the top of the sixth. The DJacks scored a run and had the bases loaded with one out when a hard-hit grounder to Huffman launched a nifty 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
In the top of the seventh, the DJacks started the inning with a single and a stolen base. Carl Liston followed with a slow roller to shortstop for a single, but Huffman faked a throw to first after fielding the ball, which enabled him to instead flip to second base, where the straying runner was tagged out for what turned out to be a very important out. The DJacks went on to score three runs and have runners on first and second before the game ended on a fly out to right field.
“As a leadoff batter, I want to wait for a good pitch, get on base and then be smart,” he said.
He also displayed smarts on defense.
“The double play was big. We practice that a lot, so it was good for that to pay off,” he said. “On the other one, I knew I wouldn’t have the runner at first, so I thought maybe the other one would take a turn off of second, and he did.”
The Minutemen scored three times in the bottom of the fourth for a 3-0 lead.
Greyson Gage singled to left with one out, and he moved to third when Robbie Ellis followed with a single to center. Holden Perry then walked to load the bases.
Aaron Huffman takes big lead off third for Lower Bucks Minutemen as Josh Labrador delivers pitch for Diamond Jacks Gold.
Seamus Burke drew a walk to bring in the first run, while Gavin Reilly and Tyler Wexler also worked RBI walks.
The Minutemen lead stretched to 5-0 in the fifth. Charlie Holmes led off with a walk, and Alex Pappas dropped down a bunt and was safe on an error. Brody Gage also bunted and was safe on a run-scoring error. Matthew Wolski hit an RBI groundout to account for the other run.
Michael Milia hit an RBI single for Diamond Jacks in the fifth inning before the double play ended the inning.
The Diamond Jacks received an RBI single to center from Josh Labrador with two-out in the seventh. Tripp Fabiano singled on a dribbler down the third base line to load the bases, and a two-run single to left from Jack Suarez got the Diamond Jacks within a run before the game-ending fly out to right.
“We held on, and we kept fighting until getting the last out at the end,” Huffman said. “It’s really good to start off with a win.”