Miles Ferreiras had an RBI double and a walk for the Warehouse Indians.
By Rich Bevensee
Travis Maloney spelled it out pretty well for any teenage baseball player with an aim toward playing at the college level.
Maloney said the real work happens before the game, off the field, even before the season. And once the game begins, trust your work and lock into the game. Pretty simple advice.
That basic approach is working for Maloney, who provided an RBI single in a game where base hits were few and far between. Maloney’s run-scoring hit helped Baseball Warehouse Indians Purple edge past MVP NY 2027 Select, 5-4, in the 18Y Blue Chip Prospects Powered by Victus on Wednesday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“It’s exciting. It’s cool to see all the scouts here,” said Maloney, a 5-10 rising senior at South River. “Once the game starts I focus on what I do. I think it’s easy. You gotta trust yourself with the work you put in before the game.”
The Blue Chip event does not have playoffs, but the top five teams will earn a bid for the Super Top 25 Showcase Series Aug. 11-12 at ‘The Nation.’
The Indians, who operate out of the Baseball Warehouse facility in Highland Park, completed the week 1-2. They lost to Wladyka American, 5-1, and to Diamond Jacks Super 17U, 11-7.
Both teams had one game cancelled due to the thunderstorms on Tuesday. The game clock was set at 1 hour, 30 minutes for all Wednesday games.
MVP finished the week 0-3. The ballclub from Commack in Long Island lost to Connecticut Baseball Club, 10-0, and Baseball U CT Black, 9-1.
Against MVP, the Indians broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the fourth inning when Garrett Rapach, Robbie Senape and Jack Whitlock earned walks to start the inning and Rapach scored on a wild pitch to the next batter, Miles Ferreiras.
Whitlock, a rising, 6-foot right-handed senior at South Brunswick, began a string of one-inning appearances for Indians pitchers.
“Obviously it’s easy to notice the scouts here but once the game gets going and the adrenaline hits I’m just focused on pitching and ready to make a play,” Whitlock said.
Chris Cardinoza, Aarush Patel and Josiah Porter each pitched an inning of relief for the Indians.
“At this point in the summer, we’re coming off a tournament and going into one as well, so this was more of a bullpen game today,” said Indians coach Greg Sampson, the varsity head coach at Piscataway Tech. Sampson was named the Greater Middlesex Conference Coach of the Year by Central Jersey Sports Radio and the Home News Tribune this past spring.
Frank Orlando slides home safely for MVP NY during the 18U Blue Chip Prospect at Diamond Nation.
Leaning on his two-seam fastball and mixing his cutter and slider, Whitlock allowed two runs on two hits (both infield singles) and no walks with one strikeout.
“I felt good in the bullpen and I was just trying to pound the zone and let my teammates make the plays, which they did,” Whitlock said. “I got unlucky with a few weak contact base hits but thought everything went fine.”
The scoring got started when the Indians struck for two runs in the top of the first. Ferreiras scored on a wild pitch and Maloney drove in Porter with an infield single.
In the bottom of the first, MVP evened the score when leadoff hitter Max Liendo scored from second on an errant throw from the outfield, and Frank Orlando scored on a two-out wild pitch.
The Indians took a 3-2 lead in the second when Rapach walked, took second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored four pitches later on another wild pitch. Ferreiras lofted a two-out, fly ball to center which fell in for a double and allowed Whitlock to score from second for a 4-2 Indians lead.
MVP made it 4-3 in the second on John Daab’s RBI single, and tied the game in the third when Gabe Esteves scored on a double steal with Angel Herrera instigating the play from first base.
For MVP, Luke Donovan pitched two innings and allowed four runs on two hits and six walks with three strikeouts. John Hatzigeorgiadis pitched two-thirds of an inning and walked two. Orlando pitched one-third of an inning and walked three. Matthew Nieves threw the final inning and yielded one run on one walk.