The Tigers’ Lorenzo Solustri dives back to first base with the Sox’ Sam Seaman holding the bag.
By Rich Bevensee
Emphasizing the basics can be a monotonous thing to hear for a baseball team of 12-year olds, but the Technique Tigers 12U Navy squad of Trumbull, Connecticut, doesn’t seem to mind hearing it, seeing as how they rolled into Diamond Nation in Flemington on Saturday and maintained some serious momentum.
“You catch the ball and throw the ball better than the other team, that’s usually who wins at this level,” said Tigers coach Thomas Milone, whose team extended its win streak to five games after a two-game pool play sweep at Spring Fever, Powered by Pure Rush.
Keeping with the coach’s message of delivering on the basics, Gabriel Miklus allowed just one run on six hits, leadoff man Takeo Jergel executed his job to perfection with three hits and three runs scored, and the Tigers won their fifth straight with a 5-1 decision over Blue Sox Baseball Navy at The Nation.
The top-seeded Tigers (10-3), who defeated Diamond Jacks Gold, 8-0, in an earlier pool play game, were to face Morris County Cubs White on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Gold bracket playoffs.
Sergel, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI double, echoed another aspect of Milone’s preaching, which is remaining positive when things go south.
“We’re playing better as a team right now,” Sergel said. “When we are down, everyone is there to pick us up.”
“For us it’s more trying to stay positive and keep the energy up,” Milone said. “That’s what we’ve been preaching a lot. And if you make an error, don’t let it turn into two, three, four mistakes, because that’s what can happen at this level. Stay positive and make the fundamental plays.”
Miklus was outstanding on the bump in his six innings of work. He retired the first eight batters and faced the minimum over four innings.
He struck out eight and walked none over 73 pitches.
“Gabe was spectacular,” Milone said. “I even told him after the game, the more strikes you throw, the more everyone is going to be engaged in the game and the better off we’ll be.”
Even when Miklus did yield a run, it was a very short-lived rally for the Blue Sox. After giving up a single to Stone Whittaker and a double to Murphy Callahan in the top of the fifth, Miklus buckled down. He got Brayden Gurda to ground out, which scored Whittaker, then got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat.
Brayden Gurda drove in the lone run for the Blue Sox.
“I trust my pitches a lot,” said Milkus, who sprinkled in his curveball and changeup with a well-placed fastball. “I haven’t thrown the curveball a lot but I trust it more now. When I was warming up my pitches were feeling good.”
Sergel got the Tigers on the board in the first when he singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
The Tigers hammered three doubles in the third to tack on three more runs. Michael Oberdick opened with a double, Sergel doubled in Oberdick, Quentrell Bruce added an RBI single, and Felipe Costa doubled home Bruce for a 4-0 lead.
After the Blue Sox spoiled Miklus’ shutout bid in the fourth, Sergel was doing his thing again, leading off with a double and scoring on a wild pitch.
“At the start of the season I was hitting more ground balls and I’ve been hitting more line drives now,” Sergel said. “No changes to my swing, I’ve just been putting in more hard work at practice.”
That was more than enough offense for Miklus, whose defense was errorless in 10 chances.
“I’ve always told Gabe and all our pitchers, make sure you are effective with your pitches and the most effective is strike one,” Milone said. “And trust your defense behind you. In order for them to make a play you gotta put the ball over the plate.”
Earlier on Saturday the Blue Sox suffered a 14-0 decision at the hands of Locked In Baseball Expos Blue. The Sox, from Orange County, N.Y., were to face Richmond County Baseball Club Ghost Americans in the Silver bracket quarterfinals on Sunday.