Anthony Carello scores for Body Armor Titans on Jake Wilber’s ground out to second.
By Sean Reilly
A change of plans worked out quite well for Stellan Zangari and his Body Armor Titans 2027 team on Thursday morning at Diamond Nation.
The Long Island team had two games scheduled, one against the Locked In Baseball Expos 17U Blue at 10 a.m., followed by another game against a different opponent at 12:15 p.m. as part of the Blue Chip Prospects, Powered By Victus.
The initial idea was to start Jaxson Torres in the first game and Stellan Zangari in the second. But with rain a possibility in the afternoon, the coaching staff decided to pitch both in the opener.
The result was a combined four-hitter, as the Titans registered a 2-1 victory in Flemington.
Torres pitched the first three innings in the game that went six innings before the play clock expired. He allowed no runs on two hits, with five strikeouts and two walks. Zangari permitted a run on two hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
Daniel Comtois, who homered later in the game, leads off first base for LIB Expos 17U Blue.
Pitching earlier than expected, and with less warmup time, was no problem for Zangari, who attends South Side High School.
“It was a good close,” he said. “I was supposed to pitch game two. I had a quick warmup, but I felt good. It doesn’t really make that much of a difference for me.”
The Body Armor Titans scored both of their runs in the second inning.
Walks to Chase Lordi, Anthony Carello and Nicholas Maresca loaded the bases with nobody out. After the count went to 2-0 to Matthew Pitz, a pitching change was made. Pitz went on to draw a walk that scored Lordi. Jake Wilber was the next batter, and his second-to-first ground out brought in Carello for a 2-0 lead.
The Titans had runners on first and third with one out in the fourth, but Expos reliever Aaron Wolderich struck out the next two batters.
The Titans also loaded the bases with two out in the fifth, but Expos right fielder Andrew Haviland made a sliding catch to end the inning.
The Expos did not have a runner advance beyond second base until Daniel Comtois led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run over the fence in left field.
A strikeout and two ground outs followed to allow the Titans to take a one-run lead into the sixth.
The Titans loaded the bases with one out in the top of the inning, but an infield fly to shortstop and third-to-second force out stopped the threat.
Body Armor Titans pitcher Stellan Zangari reacts after a 6-4-3 double play ended his team’s 2-1 win.
With the 1:50 clock having already hit zero, the bottom of the sixth represented the last chance for the Expos.
After the first batter struck out, Sam Bromage reached on a slow hit grounder that the charging second baseman could not make a play on. Luca Pedalino followed by drawing a full-count walk.
With the top of the order now up and potential tying and winning runs aboard, Zangari got the batter to hit a grounder to shortstop Andrew Zoe. He threw to second baseman Pitz for a force, and Pitz then fired to first baseman Daniel Tozzi in time for a game-ending double play.
“We’re playing pretty good,” Zangari said. “For me, my slider, and my drop, everything was working. I was able to land my off-speeds.”