By Rich Bevensee
When Pioneers Baseball 2028 coach Bobby Pasquarello tells his players the situation calls for all hands on deck, Seamus Gray takes him quite literally.
Less than an hour after earning the win in the semifinals of the 15U Slugfest, Gray got the nod to start for the Pioneers in the championship game – and brought out his right- and left-handed fielding gloves.
Gray, an ambidextrous pitcher, started the game as a left-hander, finished the first inning as a righty and continued to alternate until he had pitched three scoreless innings. His performance was the impetus the Pioneers needed to capture the 15U Slugfest title, which was secured only after a heart-stopping 4-3 victory over Charlie Baseball on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“I didn’t get the feeling they were bothered or affected by it. I just kept pitching,” Gray said. “It was my choice when to switch. Basically it was just what I was feeling. That was a big win for us. It was a lot of fun.”
Gray, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, faced 14 batters in all – seven lefty and seven righty. He allowed two hits and three walks and struck out one. Gray also caught all seven innings of the Pioneers’ first game, a 4-3 win over BC Cyclones Red.
Ambidextrous Pioneers pitcher Seamus Gray is the MVP of the 15U Slugfest.
“I started pitching with both arms on my birthday, July 29, two years ago,” said Gray, a freshman at the Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware.
“It’s been hard learning to throw off-speed pitches with both, but my dad’s been working with me so it’s getting better. My right hand is my dominant hand but in one or two years it’s going to be lefty and I’ll just catch righty.”
The Pioneers of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, went 3-0 in pool play, then earned the third seed for the playoffs and knocked off second-seeded Northeast Pride ‘28 National, 8-6, in the semifinals.
Charlie Baseball, from Lodi, N.J., and named after coach Danny Leerdam’s elder brother who passed eight years ago, roared through pool play and earned the top seed by outscoring three opponents 33-2.
The Pioneers clearly caught Charlie Baseball off guard with its four-run rally in the top of the first inning. Bobby Pasquarello scored on a throwing error following a fielder’s choice, Eli Paradise had an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch, and Wyatt Marks added another RBI single.
That was Charlie Baseball starter Jandry Cruz’ only black mark on an otherwise well-pitched game. Cruz allowed just two hits and one walk in his final four innings of work.
“Jandry’s our horse. We know what he is,” Leerdam said. “Our problem was, since the first inning when they jumped up to a 4-0 lead, with our pitching we knew we could hold them down but there was never a big hit for us.”
Once the Pioneers were playing with a lead, the story of the game was its pitching. Charlie Baseball had runners in scoring position in every inning but Gray, Marks (two innings) and Pasquarello (one inning) combined to scatter seven hits and seven walks and somehow escape major damage every time.
Even with the boisterous Charlie Baseball dugout cheering and chanting through every windup and every pitch.
“That was probably one of the most complete games we’ve played all year, and that’s because they didn’t let anything rattle them,” Coach Pasquarello said. “You saw the conditions, you saw what we were dealing with. When we had to get big outs, we did.”
Charlie Baseball crept within 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, and that’s when the younger Pasquarello, who came on in relief of Marks to pitch the sixth, found himself on the hot seat.
Pasquarello began the sixth by surrendering a single and two walks to load the bases, then gave up a single to Jordan Freeze which got Charlie Baseball within a run.
Visibly frustrated, he summoned his father and coach to the mound.
“I really have to give a shout out to my coach,” said the younger Pasquarello, a freshman at Plymouth-Whitemarsh in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. “I figured he would calm me down and give me a little breather. He told me that for many years he’s watched me pitch in pressure situations. It made me realize I have to focus and believe in myself.
“I heard them chirping and figured, heck with that, I’m gonna get them out and we’re gonna win this game.”
It was a white-knuckle ride for the Pioneers, but Charlie Baseball’s players, bursting at the dugout door, would have to wait another day for a celebration. Pasquarello got a strikeout, line out to center, and struck out the next batter to end the game.
“Obviously bases loaded, no outs, up by two, it’s nerve-racking,” Pasquarello said. “But for me, I just dialed into a zone and got the job done.”
“Yeah there was a little bit of stress when you load the bases and then ask for some strikeouts,” coach Pasquarello said, “but that’s Pioneer Baseball.”