By Rich Bevensee
These Flores Baseball kids really know how to barrel up the baseball.
For the second consecutive weekend, a Braves team cranked up the longball machine, scored in double figures and basically staged a hitting clinic when it matters most – in a tournament championship game.
Ryan Schnider, Zach Powell and Andrew Nazare each homered while their team banged out five more extra base hits and 14 hits in all to boost third-seeded Braves 13U Red to a 17-3 victory over top-seeded Wow Factor 13U East Coast 13U Black for the Battle at the Turf title on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“I’ve been playing with this team for a while, and one thing I know is we can hit,” said Schnider, who went 2-for-3 with a homer, triple and five RBI in the final. “We definitely hit today. We definitely showed up.”
“The boys came out with an approach, they sat on pitches they were looking for and when they got them they didn’t miss,” said Braves coach and program director A.J. Flores, whose team scored 63 runs in five games.
As evidence that hitting is contagious within the Flores Baseball program, the 12U Braves set the tone for the season last weekend when they hammered eight home runs and scored 12 runs in the final en route to the Spring Invitational title at the Nation.
This weekend, the 9U Red and 12U Red clubs joined the 13U Red team in bringing home tournament hardware.
“Our biggest thing when they’re really young is teaching them to hunt fastballs, and when you get a fastball, you can’t miss it because at this age you’re not going to get too many good pitches to hit,” Flores said. “At the facility we’re big on cranking up the machine to get them ready for high velo, so when they get anything here it will be a little easier for them.”
The tournament’s Most Valuable Player was Braves leadoff hitter Colton Lezette, who batted .636 with a double, two triples and a team-leading nine RBI over five games.
Lezette’s biggest contribution this weekend came in the semifinals against second-seeded Diamond Jacks Super 13U. The Braves trailed by two runs with two outs and the bases loaded when Lezette came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning and with time running out. Lezette hammered a bases-clearing double that hit the base of the fence in center field to give the Braves an eventual 9-7 victory.
Colton Lezette batted .636 with a team high nine RBI to pace FB Braves 13U Red and earn MVP honors.
“I was really excited and I was looking for a fastball and I got it,” Lezette said. “I was patient, not swinging at the curveballs, I finally got the pitch I wanted and I crushed it.”
It is not uncommon for teams coming off an emotional victory to experience a bit of a lull in their next game. This certainly was not the case for the Braves in the championship game.
“We always stay positive as a team,” Schnider said. “We never get down when we’re losing or too high when we’re winning. We just stay the same and we always have confidence.”
While Schnider and Company were busy smacking baseballs around, Braves right-handers Cody Keister and Joseph Cepiel did a solid job of keeping Wow Factor from enjoying the kind of offense they produced all weekend.
Wow Factor led all semifinalists with 49 runs scored in three pool games and scored 11 more runs in a semifinal win over Orange Crush-Felipe. Keister and Cepiel held Wow Factor to three runs on seven hits and two walks.
From left, Andrew Nazare, Zach Powell and Ryan Schnider homered for FB Braves 13U Red in the Battle At The Turf championship game.
Like Lezette, Keister played a huge role in knocking off the Diamond Jacks in the semis. Keister entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning and loaded the bases to begin the frame, but he righted the ship by striking out the side to end the game.
Offensively for the Braves in the championship, Powell went 2-for-3 with a homer and two runs scored. Nazare homered from the 11 hole in the batting order. Cepiel was 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI.
Luke Yarkon, who led the Braves this weekend by hitting .778, went 2-for-2 in the final. Henry Esposito stroked a two-run double, and Bryce Lombardi bombed a triple from the No. 12 spot in the order.
For Wow Factor, which hails from Connecticut, Jason Fleisher had an RBI double and scored, and Will Brown had a two-run single.