Evan Harris hits ball that scored Frank Shafer from third base for ASBA Futures 2027 Red.
By Sean Reilly
One is a pitcher with dark hair. The other is a red-headed catcher.
They are also twins, and on Friday night, the Laucella brothers sparked Prospects Baseball Academy 16U to victory at Diamond Nation.
Jayson Laucella pitched five no-hit innings, with eight strikeouts and one walk, and his brother Sean supplied an RBI single and also threw out a would-be base stealer in a key situation as Prospects Baseball beat All Star Baseball Academy Futures 2027 Red, 2-1, in the opening game for both at the Slugfest, Powered By Cortes & Hay, in Flemington.
“My mom has red hair and my dad has black hair, so it’s the best of both worlds,” Sean said with a laugh. “It’s almost like telepathy when we work together. I know all of his pitches, because he’s thrown them millions of times to me, even in the backyard.”
Drew Shepulski pitched the final two innings, with two strikeouts and one walk, to complete a no-hitter for the Morris County-based Prospects Baseball.
It was the first game in over a month for Prospects Baseball, and also its first competing as a 16U team. It didn’t take long to shake off any rust, thanks in part to the Laucella brothers, who are Class of 2027 players at West Morris Central High School.
“I felt like I was working in a good groove,” Jayson said. “I fixed some of my issues with mechanics, which were a little off at the end of the summer season. It felt good to be back out there today. The curveball was definitely working, and I was locating well.”
After Jayson pitched a 1-2-3 top of the first, Maddy Lenz led off the bottom of the inning by reaching on an error. He advanced to third on consecutive ground outs.
That sent up Sean Laucella, in a long-awaited at-bat. He missed most of July with a hamstring injury, and the free time throughout August allowed him additional weeks to recuperate.
He followed with an RBI single to right field for a 1-0 lead.
“I felt good to be back,” Sean said.
Prospects Baseball began the second inning with Robert Gibilisco reaching on an error. He stole second with one out, moved to third on a ground out to shortstop and then scored on a wild pitch.
Robert Gibilisco moves to third on groundout before scoring on a wild pitch for Prospects Baseball.
ASBA Futures 2027 Red scored its run in the third. Frank Shafer reached on an error with one out and stole second before moving to third on a balk. Evan Harris was safe on an infield error that brought in the run.
ASBA had only two more base runners the remainder of the game.
Jacob Plankinton reached on a one-out error in the fifth, but Jayson Laucella retired the next two on a strikeout and a pop up to himself.
Shepulski relieved in the sixth, and after walking the leadoff batter, the next two flew out to right field. The runner then tried to steal with the No. 3 hitter at-bat, but he was thrown out by catcher Sean Laucella for the third out.
In the seventh, Shepulski got the leadoff man to fly out to left on a full count, and then struck out the next two batters to close out the win.
Plankinton pitched well for ASBA, allowing no earned runs on four hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked one batter.