Bolts catcher Brendan Kouyoumdijan makes the force at home to erase the Generals’ Joe Bonko.
By Rich Bevensee
Brayden Robinson has such a calm disposition, chances are that very few things bother him.
Like, for instance, the lack of run production when he’s on the mound pitching a gem.
“B-Rob” was on the money for Bucks County Generals 2027 Black on Friday night, allowing very few baserunners while waiting for his teammates to post crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
“We have a great team so we’re going to put up runs. You just gotta’ give it time,” Robinson said. “It’s the first game of the fall season so my thinking is to do the best job I can and everything else plays out.”
Robinson’s cool demeanor eventually paid off. While he was orchestrating a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts, Grayson Fontaine capped a late-game surge with a towering two-run home run and the Generals grabbed a 6-2, six-inning victory from the South Orange Maplewood Bolts in a 15U Labor Day Blast pool play game at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“Brayden’s been on my team for two years now and he’s always been my go-to guy,” Generals coach Eric Udris said. “I like his demeanor when he’s on the mound. He fills up the strike zone which allows us to get six or seven innings of solid pitching. He’s confident in the stuff that he does and he trusts the guys behind him.”
Robinson, a sophomore at Pennridge High in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, combined his fastball and curveball with a few changeups to allow just six baserunners. Both runs he permitted in the top of the fourth inning, when the Bolts took a 2-0 lead, were unearned.
“I was locating the fastball and keeping hitters guessing with the curveball, throwing it in different counts,” Robinson said. “My changeup was iffy to start – I walked the first guy, not the ideal play – but got the double play after that and from there defense helped me out a lot.”
Robinson’s talking about the Generals’ defensive gem of the night, when second baseman Charlie Wetzel leaped to snag a Luke Hall line drive and threw to first to double up Ben Josefsburg.
The Generals’ offensive highlight belonged to Fontaine, a 6-2, 185-pound eighth grader who blasted his third homer in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Generals a 6-2 lead.
Drew Welsh singled and walked for the Bucks County Generals Black.
“I woke up this morning and knew I was going to have a good day today,” said Fontaine, who finished a triple short of the cycle. He singled in the second inning, doubled in the fourth and homered in the sixth.
“When I was at the plate I was thinking I’m going to hit the ball hard,” he said. “And when I saw that (middle-in) pitch, I drove it.”
Perfect Game ranks Fontaine No. 3 among eighth grade left-handed pitchers in the country.
Udris is not concerned that an eighth grader is on a baseball team with high school athletes.
“The talent’s there. He’s not overmatched, and he works for it,” Udris said. “You can see the same traits of his older brother in him.”
Clearly, Fontaine has great athletic genes in his family. His elder brother, Brighton, a sophomore at LaSalle College High in Wyndmoor, Pa., has committed to Alabama.
The Bolts seized the lead in the top of the fourth when Hall scored on an outfield error following Blake Gordon’s two-out single, and Gordon scored when that errant throw became a dead ball.
The Generals quickly tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Brycen Burke laced an RBI single to right, and Fontaine doubled home Wetzel with two out.
In the fifth, the Generals claimed their first lead when Wetzel walked with the bases loaded for a 3-2 edge. John Trefz added an insurance run on an RBI groundout.
The Bolts had some high points in the game. Gavin Lubomski pitched three scoreless innings with three strikeouts to start the game, and he was the beneficiary of a pair of defensive gems by first baseman Landon Heney.
In the bottom of the third, the Generals had the bases loaded with two out when Logan Waynick unleashed a line drive down the first base line. Heney went horizontal toward his dugout to make the catch and help the Bolts escape the inning.
In the fourth inning the Generals had a 3-2 lead with the bases loaded when Matt Lawless stroked a grounder headed for the hole on the right side. Heney slid to his right, gloved the grounder and threw home to get the force out, temporarily keeping the Bolts within a run.