The ZT Prospects won a 13-12 thriller to claim the 12U School’s Out championship.
By Rich Bevensee
The Titans 12U Rush ballclub crammed a season’s worth of peaks and valleys into two playoff games and survived it all to climb within one strike of a tournament championship.
The last batter in the ZT Prospects Northeast lineup, a ballplayer who has overcome early season struggles, decided that his destiny trumped that of the Titans.
Facing a 1-2 count with the bases loaded and his team trailing by a run with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Hunter Quizan delivered the biggest hit of his career. His double into the left-center gap drove in two runs and gave the Prospects a 13-12, walk-off victory and the 12U School’s Out Tournament championship on Sunday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“I was really nervous,” said Quizan, the Prospects’ No. 11 batter. “I was really scared when I went up to the box. My heart was beating like crazy. Down 1-2, I relaxed myself, widened my stance and did the best I could.”
“It is so fitting that Hunter got the winning hit,” Prospects coach Kevin Rivera said. “I learned a long time ago from a friend of mine that at the top of the lineup, the good players know what to do. You can trust them at practice. Focus on the guys at the lower end of the lineup. They may be having a more difficult time getting things figured out, but if you pour into them, you want to have confidence when they come up in that moment so you can say, ‘You put the work in, now trust it.’ That’s why we weren’t nervous when Hunter was up.”
Quizan, named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, was in the spotlight earlier in the game when he singled to spark his team’s fifth-inning rally. Two batters later A.J. Tapia hit a two-run home run and Sebastyan Carela followed with a solo homer to give the Prospects a 10-9 lead.
“One hundred percent I’m feeling better,” Quizan said, referring to his spring struggles. “This is basically a really good confidence booster for me. Hopefully I can keep competing like this.”
“I’m happy for Hunter. He’s put in a lot of work,” Prospects coach Kervin Rivera said. “He had a tough start to the season. I think some of it had to do with him maybe trying to prove himself, putting too much weight on himself. But every game you can tell he’s gotten a little more comfortable. Not many people can say their 11th batter was the MVP of the tournament.”
The Prospects, based in Wayne, scored 40 runs in four games and went unbeaten for their first championship of the year, a run which included two wins over the Titans (2-2) of Long Island by a combined three runs.
Quizan’s hit slammed an exclamation point on a dynamic 12U final which saw five lead changes.
The Prospects were buoyed by the longball – a three-run home run by Matt Miller in the first inning, an opposite-field, three-run blast by Anderson Baez in the fourth, and back-to-back homers by A.J. Tapia (a game-tying two-run shot) and Sebastyan Carela in the fifth.
The Prospects trailed at three points in the game, first after the Titans scored a run in the top of the first inning, and most notably after the fourth when the Titans scored four runs to seize a 9-4 lead. The Titans took one more lead in the seventh, scoring twice for a 12-10 lead.
“The Titans were great,” Rivera said. “Good ballclub, good coaches, good energy. This is what a 12U atmosphere should feel like where the parents are respecting each other, no one’s getting on the umpires. If every weekend is like this, I’ll sign up every time.”
The Titans were familiar with multiple lead changes and extra inning drama, having survived another seventh-inning thriller in the semifinals when they defeated Untamed Gold of Kenilworth, 12-10. That game featured four lead changes.
Ironically, the Titans scored two runs in the top of the seventh of that game as well. They held Untamed scoreless in their at bat to earn a berth in the final.
The Prospects’ Hunter Quizan, whose two-run double was the game-winning hit, was named the tournament MVP.
Perhaps the Titans went into the tournament with an edge when it came to handling pressure. Their coach is Shawn Rush, who steered the varsity baseball team at West Islip High of Long Island to 248 wins in 15 years before he stepped down after the 2025 season.
“We started preaching to these kids ever since I started my journey with them that you have to play clean innings, and this is the best we’ve played since I met them in the fall,” Rush said. “I’m proud of them for constantly clawing back.”
With the game clock expired in the championship game, the tiebreaker rule went into effect, which means the seventh inning began with the bases loaded and one out.
The Titans scored two in the top of the seventh when Brayden Hahn grounded into a fielder’s choice to score one run, and Matt Reedy alertly scooted home from second on the same play for an insurance run and a 12-10 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Anay Desai led off with a bases loaded walk to bring the Prospects within a run. The Titans retired Beloff-Davis for the second out and had Quizan within a strike of the final out.
Quizan, a lefty hitter, roped a sharp line drive to the left center gap, and was mobbed by his teammates between first and second base.
“We put a ball in play and with heads-up baserunning we scored two runs on a force,” Rush said. “Bottom seven, we walked a run in, got a guy out, got two strikes on the next batter and you have to tip your cap. That’s sports. That guy wasn’t up there to walk. He had a bat in his hand and he used it, and good for them.”
The Titans opened the game with a 1-0 lead on Matt Reedy’s two-out RBI single.
The Prospects responded with four runs in the bottom of the first. Carela had an RBI single and Miller ripped a three-run, line drive homer to left.
From left, A.J. Tapia, Sebastyan Carela, Matt Miller and Anderson Baez homered in the title game for the ZT Prospects.
The Titans bounced back to retake the lead in the second. Ryan Schiavo had an RBI single, Gavin Bekwitt singled in a run and a run scored on an outfield error, and another run scored on an infield error for a 5-4 lead.
The Titans really poured it on in the fourth, increasing their lead to 9-4. Lucas LaCova forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk, Aresco drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, Bekwitt scored on a wild pitch and Dan Aresco scored on a passed ball.
It was at this time Rivera reminded the Prospects they faced a similar situation just 24 hours earlier when they trailed the Titans by three runs in a pool play game. The Prospects rallied to win that one, 5-3.
“We played these guys Saturday and were down 3-0 and when you’re 12 years old you tend to over-dramatize,” Rivera said. “They just did a good job staying together, staying focused and they responded.”
The Prospects scored three runs in the fourth and fifth innings to retake the lead, 10-9.
In the fourth, Baez stroked an opposite-field, three-run homer to right. In the fifth, Tapia ripped the hardest hit ball of the game, a two-run homer well beyond the center field fence, and Carela added a solo shot to retake the lead for the Prospects.
The Prospects were within an out of winning the game in the top of the sixth before an infield error extended the game. Two batters later Aresco raced home with the tying run on a passed ball.