Time To Sign Scout pitcher Patrick Veintimilla fires away in Thursday’s game.
By Will Harrigan
Time To Sign Scout experienced all the highs and lows baseball can offer in one shot on Thursday morning.
Sarkis Ohanian’s squad – composed of players throughout the tri-state area – got a huge lead against the Diamond Jacks Super 16U squad.
In one disastrous half inning, they very nearly blew that lead altogether, and ultimately hung on for dear life.
The grand result of this wild game was an 8-7 victory for Time To Sign Scout over the Diamond Jacks Super 16U in Super 17 Invitational action at ‘The Nation.’
Time To Sign closed the week strong, winning three games in a row after a loss on Monday. The DJacks – playing up a year in competition – finished their week at 1-2-1.
“That whole game kind of sums up what baseball is,” said Ohanian. “Great start, coasted through the middle, almost got burned and won in an exciting finish. All of that in one game is a good lesson for these guys.”
In the final inning, the Diamond Jacks would load up the bases with one out, but Time to Sign reliever Logan Higgins escaped damage in impressive fashion.
First, Higgins would induce a foul pop to third off the bat of Jake Yang to notch the second out, and would shortly follow that by getting Jayden Capindica to ground out to short to wrap things up.
“Logan is a tough kid. He struggled a bit there but recovered really well, and locked it down for us,” said Ohanian.
An inning earlier, the DJacks nearly came back from an 8-0 hole and won it outright.
Four walks and two errors did Time To Sign Scout no favors in the frame, and the Diamond Jacks also received timely, two-out RBI singles off the bats of Capindica and Henry Ayers to keep the rally going.
“We got complacent there and it nearly cost us. We are kind of lucky actually,” Ohanian said.
Time To Sign batter Chad Byrd gets ready to unload in Thursday’s win.
Notre Dame of Lawrenceville product Dominick Vizzoni would manufacture a run himself to get the scoring started in the second. He walked, stole second, and trekked the next 180 feet by advancing on wild pitches to make it 1-0.
Ben Landesman – a rising senior who plays his high school ball at Weston in Connecticut – broke the game open (or so it seemed at the time) by belting a two-run double to ignite a five-run fifth for Time To Sign.
Timothy Amato singled in a run during the rally, and Nicholas Hodgkins launched a sacrifice fly to right field as part of that rally.
A pair of errors, including an ill-timed error on a double steal attempt, allowed Time to Sign to plate two more crucially important insurance runs in the fourth. Fairfield Prep’s Chad Byrd singled in a run in that frame as well.
Patrick Veintimilla, a hard-throwing right hander for Time To Sign, dazzled in three innings of work, striking out five while not allowing a hit.