Logan Dorin slams a grounds rule RBI double for Hustle Baseball.
By Rich Bevensee
Many coaches have said it’s difficult saying goodbye to a particular group of young ballplayers when the season is over, and Matt Rego and Kris Winter are no different.
Rego’s Hustle Baseball club and Winter’s Richmond County Baseball Club Ghost Nationals team met Thursday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington to cap off their 2026 summer campaign. Neither coach quite got the sendoff he desired for his team, but both men preached a heartfelt message of camaraderie and achievement.
When RCBC’s Anthony Narciso slid home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning, it was the final run in a 5-5 tie ballgame in the 18U Blue Chip Prospects Powered by Victus.
“The core of this team has been with Hustle for five years so I’ve known them a while, and I’ve had this group for two years,” said Rego, who is also a varsity assistant coach at Gov. Livingston. “They come from different high school programs and they’re taught different ways, but these guys just gelled. They hung out together outside baseball. I’m going to miss the camaraderie.”
“This team has been together now for nine years, so we have a lot of memories with these boys,” Winter said. “It’s the personalities I’ll remember the most about this group. I’m going to miss them.”
Hustle finished the showcase week 3-0-1. Rego’s team beat MVP New England 2028 Marucci, 7-5, Body Armor 2028 Cashman, 5-0, and Showtime Select NY, 4-0.
RCBC missed a game due to Tuesday’s rainstorms and closed the week 0-2-1. RCBC lost to Evolution Baseball Muller, 13-4, and MVP New England 2027 Marucci, 6-0.
The Blue Chip is one of Diamond Nation’s showpiece events of the summer, with dozens of college scouts scouring the campus in search of ballplayers who fit their roster needs. There were no playoffs for this event, but the top five teams received a bid to the Super Top 25 Showcase Series Aug. 11-12 at ‘The Nation.’
Both teams exhibited resilience in rallying from multiple-run deficits.
RCBC owned a 3-1 lead when Hustle, which had been stymied by RCBC righty starter Christian Manteria, rallied for four runs on three hits in the fourth.
The first four Hustle batters reached – James Killion walked, Ronan Rowbotham tripled Killion home, Daniel Lipsky drove in Rowbotham with a double to right, and Logan Dorin hit a grounds rule double to plate Lipsky. Dorin later stole home for a 5-3 Hustle lead when Jake Sweat initiated a double steal from first base.
“They showed resilience by being down and scoring four runs,” Rego said. “Some guys had extended at bats, drove the ball in the gap, used the whole field – pull side, opposite field – and moved runners over.”
Lucas Nunez had an important sacrifice fly for RCBC in the fourth inning.
Rowbotham’s blast, a standup triple coming on a shot to deep center, was significant for Hustle because it signified a breakthrough against Manteria, who held Hustle to one run on two hits through three innings. Rowbotham finished the week 3-for-7 with a homer, a triple, five RBI and three runs scored.
“Any time you see a pitcher multiple times, you see spin, you see arm slot, you see how he’s sequencing hitters,” said Rego of Manteria, who clicked 83 on the radar gun. “The kid was good. He threw a lot of strikes early in the game, he had a firm fastball, and he was beating us, quite frankly, with one pitch. I told them to stick with the approach, hunt fastballs early in the count, be aggressive and with two strikes it’s always a team at bat.”
After a strikeout and a walk, Manteria was relieved by Pete Cabrales who struck out the last two Hustle batters.
With game clocks shortened to 90 minutes, the fourth inning was RCBC’s last chance to show its resiliency. Hustle starter Dakota DeLaPaz walked the first two batters, Pete Lynsky and Narciso, before he was relieved by Jake Dunbabin, who began his work with a strikeout. A Lucas Nunez sacrifice fly scored Lynsky from third and got RCBC within a run with the game clock expired.
With two outs and the count 1-2 to Christian Winter, Narciso dashed home on a wild pitch to score the tying run. Dunbabin struck out Winter to secure the tie.
“At the end, the bottom half of the lineup came up big and we were able to scratch up two runs,” Winter said. “We play Hustle a lot and we have a lot of respect for those guys.”
“That was a tough one, especially with how we battled back to score four runs,” Rego said. “You go into the last inning with a two-run lead and you want to try and hold them.”
RCBC took its only lead of the game in the bottom of the third when it scored three runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batsman for a 3-1 lead. Nick Fopeano had an RBI single and later scored on a balk, and Cabrales added an RBI single.
Hustle took the first lead of the game in the top of the third when Dunbabin walked and scored two batters later when Pat Jewell singled to right.
Manteria pitched 3⅓ innings and surrendered five runs on five hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Cabrales struck out two in his two-thirds of an inning of work.
For Hustle, DeLaPaz threw three innings and gave up five runs on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Dunbabin struck out two in relief.