Toms River Titans Andrew DiNicola blasts his second HR of the game in the second inning.
By Rich Bevensee
The minute the bat left his hand, Andrew DiNicola knew he had made a mistake.
It was the only mistake he would make in an offensive power display seldom seen on Field 2 at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
DiNicola, the strapping young catcher for the 12U Toms River Titans, launched a pair of tape-measure home runs which not only cleared the fence but landed high up into the trees surrounding the field. Those blasts – and the five RBIs which came with those homers – propelled the Titans to a 12-2 victory over the Marauders during Easter Extravaganza pool play on Saturday at the Nation.
DiNicola’s first homer, a three-run shot, sailed well over the 237-foot center field fence, and he stood at home plate for a few seconds to admire his first shot before flipping his bat high and far into the air. The bat landed perilously close to the Marauders dugout on the first base side.
“As soon as I let it go, I knew it was wrong,” said DiNicola, remarkably mature for a 12-year old. “I knew as soon as I did it that it wasn’t the best idea. It was disrespectful.”
With that moment over, DiNicola and the rest of the Titans went about showing ‘The Nation’ just how good of a hitting team they are. All six base hits in that first inning – as well as Jackson Pino’s sacrifice fly – rang loudly across Field 2 while the Jersey Shore team built a 6-0 lead.
Also in that first inning rally, Pino’s sac fly was sandwiched by RBI singles from Jacob Booker and Josiah Ellis.
In the second inning, after Caden Butterworth scored on a wild pitch, DiNicola rocked his second homer of the game, a 230-foot shot over the left field fence which gave the Titans a 9-0 lead.
“Just the way it comes off the bat, I can feel it and you kind of know,” DiNicola said after his sixth homer of the season. He hit 20 bombs last spring and summer.
Caden Butterworth slides home safely, ahead of the throw to Marauders pitcher Tristan Frambach.
Connor Muller was responsible for both Marauders runs with RBI singles in the second and fourth innings.
The Titans polished off their offensive fireworks when Ellis cracked a two-run single in the third and Ryan Guarda added an RBI single in the fourth.
“I like the aggressiveness that the boys had, just making sure we’re taking advantage of opportunities when pitches are right down the middle,” Titans coach Tony Pino said. “We’ve been under-performing by our standards, and we needed to have a ‘get right’ game today, and the boys showed up.”
“We’re excited, we’re ready for the next game and we’re going to keep on swinging,” DiNicola said. “We’ve been dead the past couple weeks, but today we got to the field ready to hit, ready to play.”
Jackson Pino pitched all four innings for the Titans and allowed two runs on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
The Titans continued pool play on Friday night with a 5-3 loss to Marlboro Mustangs Gold, before rebounding with a 7-6 victory over Gotham Ghost on Saturday.
The Marauders dropped a second game Friday to the Out Of The Park Cyclones Prospects, 14-1, and fell, 2-0, to the South Shore Tide on Saturday.