Cameron Wekar follows through on an RBI fielder’s choice for The Sports Yard 15U.
By Sean Reilly
It’s a roughly three-and-a-half hour trip from the Syracuse, N.Y., area to Diamond Nation, and it’s one that teams representing The Sports Yard make frequently each summer.
The 15U team from the organization came to Flemington during the week to compete at the 15U Garden State Invitational.
The Sports Yard players always enjoy the visits, and this time around, had a bonus.
A few games at the tournament were rained out due to a thunderstorm on Wednesday night. Those games were moved to Friday morning, and when one team opted not to play, Sports Yard gladly stepped in to play an extra game.
To make it even more rewarding, that game resulted in a win, as Sports Yard gained a 6-3 victory over the West Jersey Rebels.
“We come here a lot,” said Matt Bartoszek, who allowed three hits over three innings to earn the win, and also went 1-for-2 with a walk at the plate. “The fields are really nice and it’s very good competition. It’s super fun.”
After Bartoszek pitched a scoreless top of the first, The Sports Yard scored five times in the bottom of the frame.
Corey Kolbas and Bartoszek walked, and Derek Rice was hit by a pitch. Lathan Milliman and Ben Hopperstad-Bartlett also walked for a 2-0 lead.
Following a pitching change, Jake Thomas was hit by a pitch to score another run. Joey LaFrance was up next, and he hit a one-run single to center.
LaFrance wound up the hitting star of the game, by finishing 3-for-3.
Cameron Wekar was the eighth batter, and he hit a fielder’s choice grounder to second that forced out LaFrance at second base and scored Hopperstad-Bartlett with the fifth run.
The Rebels tried to come back, first loading the bases with one out in the second inning before Bartoszek got a strikeout and grounder to shortstop.
The Rebels scored their first run in the third, after Matthew Kulyk tripled to left field and continued home after an error on the relay. There were also runners on first and third with one out, but a line drive was caught by first baseman Jake Hehl, who stepped on the bag for an unassisted double play.
Jake Thomas leads off third base for The Sports Yard. He was hit by a pitch, walked and singled.
The Rebels scored another run in fourth. Alex Berman singled to third with one out, moved to second on a ground out and then scored on Brayden Harper’s single to left field.
The Rebels got within 5-3 in the top of the fifth. After loading the bases without a hit, Joshua Rivera was hit by a pitch with one out.
At that point, Rice entered to pitch for Sports Yard, and he struck out the next two batters to maintain his team’s lead.
Sports Yard scored a run in the bottom of the fifth. After the first batter was retired, Hopperstad-Bartlett walked, Thomas singled to right field and LaFrance hit a grounder that caromed off first base for a single that loaded the bases. Wekar then hit a run-scoring ground out to first base.
A walk to Hehl re-loaded the bases, but the 1:50 play clock expired with Mike Boyle at the plate to conclude the game and send Sports Yard home to Upstate New York happy.
“This was a fun tournament,” said Bartoszek, whose week at ‘The Nation’ included a 2-for-2, three RBI performance in a win over the Northeast Dodgers on Tuesday. “I enjoyed playing with my whole team.”