The Brewers’ Austin Wolff evades the tag of Blue Sox catcher Mike Savoy at home in the third inning.
By Rich Bevensee
The Next Level Brewers 16U ballclub demonstrated good things can happen when base hits occur with runners on base.
Sure, it sounds like a simple theory, but it’s something the Brewers struggled to do over the course of the week during the 16U Blue Chip Prospects event at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
After scoring eight runs across its first three games at ‘The Nation,’ Next Level strung together some well-timed hits and produced an 8-7 victory in four innings over Route 2 Blue Sox 2028 on a sweltering Thursday afternoon.
Vin Bourne, the Brewers’ leadoff hitter who sparked his team’s five-run rally in the third inning with an RBI double, said it was only a matter of time before he and his teammates figured out how to escape a mid-week slump.
“Definitely, 100 percent we were struggling with runners in scoring position this week, especially in the later innings,” said Bourne, a 5-10 rising junior and middle infielder at Long Island Lutheran in Brookville, N.Y. “Today we did a pretty good job of that and got the win. We can all hit on this team, so it was only a matter of time before we finally found the barrels.”
The Brewers, based in Carle Place, Long Island, leave Diamond Nation with a 1-2-1 mark. They lost to the 2029 New York Longhorns, 9-1, and to USG NY 16U Sipp, 5-3, and tied MVP South Shore Sammy, 4-4.
The Blue Sox return to Arlington, Massachusetts, with a 2-2 record. They defeated Titans Deall, 18-4, and MVP South Shore Sammy, 8-0, and lost to Ghost 2028, 8-0.
The Brewers clung to a 2-1 lead when they scored five runs in the third inning on four hits, one walk and three errors.
After Bourne’s RBI double, Mike Hanlon had a run-scoring single, two runs scored on a two-out, infield throwing error, and Lucas Skiric capped the surge with an RBI single.
“Leading off it’s good to set the tone, but I did a rough job with that today,” said Bourne, who struck out in his first at bat. “But the second time around I figured it out and got the team going.”
“We did a much better job with runners in scoring position today,” Brewers coach Vinny Garelick said. “A much better job running the bases. We forced the issue, put some pressure on the defense, and there was a mistake or two on the defense and we took advantage of it.”
The Brewers added a run in the fourth on a Nick Von Bargen sacrifice fly to forge an 8-3 lead, and that run would become crucial in the bottom of the inning.
Brewers starter Jake Lau held the Brewers to three hits through three innings but tired in the heat in the fourth and the Blue Sox took advantage, eventually getting the potential tying and winning runs into scoring position.
Ben Siegel drives a two-run double in the third inning for the Blue Sox.
Max Douglas began the comeback rally for the Sox with a leadoff double. Brett Wohletz followed with a one-out double to score Douglas.
Leadoff hitter Chris Tauro beat out an infield single to drive in Wohletz, and Benji DiGregorio doubled off the left field wall to score Tauro and bring the Sox within 8-6.
Owen McGowan relieved Lau and surrendered a walk to his first batter, Luke Grossman, before Lucas Lilley plated DiGregorio with a single to make it a one-run game.
A single to left by Nick Antetomaso nearly tied the game but the relay from Brewers left fielder Zach Fabus to third baseman Billy Mitchell to catcher Moses Lopez cut down Grossman at the plate. McGowan retired the side and ended the drama when he got Ben Siegel, who an inning earlier had an RBI double, to hit an infield popup.
Lau endured a bumpy start, giving up one run on one hit, one walk and two hit batters in the first inning, but made a good defensive play on a high chopper to get a force at home to help limit the damage. He was solid over his next two frames while his teammates surged to take the lead. Tiring in the fourth, he gave up four runs on four hits before handing off to McGowan.
Lau, using a four-seam and two-seam fastball, curveball and changeup, threw 78 pitches and allowed seven runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 3⅓ innings.
“In the first inning I was rushing and my arm was flying open so I stayed closed longer and just pumped the strike zone,” said Lau, a 5-8 right-hander and rising junior at North Shore in Glen Head, Long Island. “I was feeling a little tired at the end there but my teammates picked me up.”
“Jake had a rough first inning with runners on but he pitched out of it, where he made a nice play fielding his position and got the next two guys,” Garelick said. “After we scored a couple runs for him he threw up a couple zeroes and he kept us in the game. It looked like he may have run out of gas there but we were trying to get as much out of him as we could.”
The Blue Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Tauro led off with a hit-by-pitch, advanced to second and third on wild pitches and scored on a passed ball.
The Brewers bounced back in the second to take a 2-1 lead when Lopez had an RBI single and later scored from third on a double steal with Fabus initiating the action from first base.