By Rich Bevensee
Even after pitching his team to an age group tournament title and earning the Most Valuable Player award, Flores Baseball Braves 14U Red lefty Mason Newman quickly redirected the spotlight to a teammate.
That teammate had returned from a debilitating injury and elevated his team to championship contender status.
Chris Haines shut down his baseball career nine months ago due to a broken bone in his pitching elbow, but he has returned to the diamond this spring ready to prove he’s better, stronger and faster. Two weeks ago he earned the MVP award after the Braves won the April Fool’s title at Diamond Nation in Flemington. On Sunday in the 14U Easter Extravaganza semifinals, he pitched a one-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts.
“Chris won the MVP two weeks ago, I got it today, so we’ve been mostly known as a 1-2 punch,” Newman said. “But he’s the ace. We’re lucky to have him back after all he’s been through.”
Together, Haines and Newman vaulted the Braves to their second Diamond Nation title in three weeks. Following Haines’ semifinal gem, Newman allowed one earned run over five innings and the second-seeded Braves claimed a 4-3 victory over top-seeded Grit Black in the 14U Easter Extravaganza championship game on Sunday at ‘The Nation.’
With the score tied 3-3 in the top of the fifth of a tightly contested ballgame, Braves’ No. 10 batter Tyler Ciasullo showed off his speed three different times; first by leading off with a textbook bunt single, then by going first to third on Newman’s one-out single to right, and finally by swiping home on a two-out wild pitch.
Mixing his fastball, slurve and an occasional change-up, Newman allowed three runs – one earned – on three hits, two walks and two hit batsmen while striking out three. Jayden Figueroa, elevated from a lower tier Braves team for this tournament, came on in the sixth and struck out the side to preserve the victory and the championship.
It was Newman’s third appearance in a Diamond Nation championship game; his first was last fall, and his next appearance was in the April Fool’s final two weeks ago.
FB Braves 14U Red’s Mason Newman was named Easter Extravaganza MVP.
In that April Fool’s final, a 7-0 win over Keystone State Bombers National, Newman walked six but did not give up any hits through five innings.
“I was ready today. I wasn’t really nervous. I was more excited,” Newman said. “I just try to stay calm. If I do badly, it’s not the end of the world. Just get it over the plate. This title feels good. It will keep us rolling for our next tournament, and hopefully we can keep our momentum.”
“Honestly this team is really special,” Braves coach Dylan Edelstein said. “The team we had last year was hampered by injuries, and then we added six new kids to this group. In the last Diamond Nation tournament, it took us a while to get going but now you see this group’s starting to mesh a little bit.”
In the Extravaganza final, the Braves owned leads of 1-0 and 3-1 and never trailed. Newman twice pitched out of jams to keep Grit from gaining the lead. Grit had runners on second and third with one out in the second and third innings, only to come away empty.
Trailing 3-1, Grit scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the second inning and scored the tying run in the fourth when David Firsenbaum reached on an infield error and scored on one as well.
The Braves would not have reached the championship game without Haines’ effort in the semis. Bolstered by his 86 miles per hour fastball – as well as a sinker, curveball and changeup – he pitched all seven innings of a 3-0 victory over the Out Of The Park Cyclones Futures in which he struck out 10 while allowing one hit and two walks.
The Braves were guarding a 1-0 lead through five innings before scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“Gutsy is one word (to describe Haines’ comeback),” Edelstein said. “His level of maturity also changed. Suffering that injury has helped him mature. He was one of those kids who easily got upset. Now he understands.”
Haines said he began feeling his elbow going numb each time he pitched, and was shut down in June. The injury was a fracture to the cap-like bone in his elbow. He was advised to stop throwing altogether, and focus on rehab until the spring.
And now he’s throwing one-hit shutouts and winning MVP awards.
“I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be back doing this well. It was a long recovery,” Haines said. “To come back from injury and throw harder than you were before? I can’t explain it. It feels great. I think the injury helped me a little because it made me want to play baseball more and strive for that goal of getting back on the mound.”